Apparatus and method for using connected vehicles as an advertisement platform

ABSTRACT

By way of example, a connected vehicle in the form of an electric vehicle is disclosed that the electric vehicle includes an advertisement system, which is configured to: detect presence of people near the connected vehicle via one or more proximity sensors; and reproduce, in response to the detection of presence of people, one or more advertisements via external displays and/or external speakers of the connected vehicle. Further, the connected vehicle may include an advertisement identification unit coupled to the advertisement system and configured to recognize and identify one or more visual contents of an advertisement reproduced on an external display of another vehicle or a billboard display nearby.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION(S)

The present application is a continuation in part of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 16/286,336, filed Feb. 26, 2019, which claims thebenefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/636,065, filedFeb. 27, 2018, titled “SYSTEM FOR PROVIDING VEHICLE ADVERTISMENT ANDMETHOD FOR CONTROLLING VEHICLE,” and related Korean Patent ApplicationNos. KR10-2018-0052083, filed May 4, 2018, KR10-2018-0052084, filed May4, 2018, KR10-2018-0052085, May 4, 2018, KR10-2018-0052086, May 4, 2018,KR10-2018-0052775, filed May 8, 2018, KR10-2018-0052776, filed May 8,2018, KR10-2018-0052777, filed May 8, 2018, KR10-2018-0052778, May 8,2019, KR10-2018-0052779, May 8, 2018, KR10-2018-0052780, May 8, 2018,the entire contents of which are incorporated by reference herein in itsentirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates to a system and method for reproducingadvertisements over a network, in particular, reproducing theadvertisements on or in one or more connected vehicles over the networkin a connected environment.

BACKGROUND

As modern technology advances, internet connected devices are gainingmore popularity and are becoming more common place in people's everydaylives. Further, commercial advertisements are taking various deliverytechnology channels such as internet, webpages, you-tubes, mobilephones, smart TVs, etc. substantially away from traditional channelssuch as newspapers, magazines, TVs, and billboards. The advertisementchannels are becoming more digital and mobile.

In an internet of things (IoT) environment, nowadays vehicles ortransportation means are becoming more connected than ever. Also,transportation vehicles such as taxis or buses are displaying moreadvertisements for profit, in the form of stickers or special paints, onthe sides of the vehicles so that passers-by or pedestrians can viewthem. However, these delivery platforms are static in nature and arevery limited in nature such that the advertisements are attached to thevehicles for a contract duration that is agreed between vehicle ownersand an advertiser. After the contract duration, the advertisements needto come off or repainted. Further, these advertisements are static innature and are not location based. That is, the advertisements don'tchange during an entire vehicle route. Furthermore, the advertisementsare not interesting to the people in general.

As such, there is still a need for a new, improved, and innovativemethod or technique for reproducing digital advertisements usingvehicles.

SUMMARY

With the advent of autonomous vehicles and/or electric vehicles, thevehicles are more connected to a network or Internet, via variouscommunications technology. Further, there are more connected vehicles tothe Internet, which are capable of communications with a device over awireless network as well as with other connected vehicles. That is,vehicles are becoming not only a transportation means but also devices,e.g., clients (in a client-server context), which may communicate withone or more servers over a network for retrieving various informationincluding current news, weather data, and advertisements from the one ormore servers on the network.

The present technology described herein provides a system or a methodfor delivering one or more advertisement contents to connected vehiclesin an Internet of Things (IoT) environment, in a more effective manner,thereby increasing the effect of advertisements delivered to people.That is, the present technology provides in an aspect a new, novelsystem or method for delivery of one or more advertisement contents forthe highest possible effect to the viewers, using the connected vehiclesas part of an advertisement platform.

In one embodiment of the present technology, a system for deliveringadvertisements include a plurality of connected vehicles participatingin an advertisement event. Each of the plurality of connected vehiclesis configured to receive an instruction from one of the connectedvehicles over a first network or a server over a second network tocluster near or at a target area for delivering an advertisement as acluster advertisement among a group of the connected vehicles.

In an aspect of the present disclosure, each of the connected vehiclesof the system is configured to: receive input on a driving destinationfrom a driver of the connected vehicle, send the received input to theserver over the network, and in response, receive one or more questsfrom the server. The one or more quests may be determined based in parton one or more driving routes to the driving destination and availableadvertisement events in the one or more driving routes.

In another aspect of the present disclosure, in preparation for acarry-out of a parade or a mission, the plurality of connected vehiclesof the system is instructed to gather together at a predeterminedlocation. The predetermined location may be a parking lot or a road withthe least amount of traffic.

In an aspect of the present disclosure, the advertisement event in thesystem is a parade or a mission event, and the plurality of theconnected vehicles participating in the advertisement event isdetermined based in part on vehicle profiles or user preferences.

In an aspect of the present disclosure, the advertisement event in thesystem is the parade and movements of the plurality of connectedvehicles participating in the parade are continuously monitored by theone of the connected vehicles over the first network or the server overthe second network.

In another aspect of the present disclosure, during the parade, drivingspeeds and routes of the connected vehicles participating in the paradeor the mission in the system are controlled by the server to maintain apredefined formation of procession in the parade or the mission. Assuch, when the cluster of the connected vehicles participating in theparade is broken into multiple sub-groups by a traffic light, thedriving speeds and routes of the connected vehicles are controlled suchthat the multiple sub-groups may be clustered again into a singlecluster for the parade after the traffic light.

In another aspect of the present disclosure, each of the plurality ofconnected vehicles of the system is configured to synchronizereproduction of one or more advertisements with other connected vehiclesas the cluster advertisement, while participating in the advertisementevent.

In an aspect of the present disclosure, each of the plurality ofconnected vehicles of the system participating in the parade isconfigured to display vehicle identification information of a precedingvehicle to follow in the parade on an internal display of the connectedvehicle.

In an aspect of the present disclosure, each of the plurality ofconnected vehicles of the system participating in the parade is furtherconfigured to display an indication of whether the connected vehicle isat a right position in the parade.

In an aspect of the present disclosure, each of the plurality ofconnected vehicles of the system participating in the parade is furtherconfigured to display vehicle identification information of theconnected vehicle on an external display of the preceding vehicle thatthe connected vehicle is following in the parade.

In an aspect of the present disclosure, each of the plurality ofconnected vehicles of the system participating in the parade isconfigured to output an indication from one of the connected vehiclesover the first network or the server over the second network as towhether the connected vehicle is at a right position in the parade.

In an aspect of the present disclosure, the connected vehicles of thesystem participating in the parade are configured to drive apredetermined route near or around the target area with a predeterminednumber of turns around the predetermined route, while reproducing a sameadvertisement in a coordinated manner as the group of connectedvehicles, thereby increasing an effect of the advertisement on people.Further, the predetermined number of turns around the predeterminedroute may be determined in advance by the server on the network, basedin part on location of an advertiser, a density of traffic, or a densityof people on the predetermined route.

In an aspect of the present disclosure, each of the plurality ofconnected vehicles of the system is configured to receive in advance,prior to arrival at or near the target area, real-time information onwhether a minimum number of connected vehicles for a carry-out of theadvertisement event have already arrived at or near the target area.

In an aspect of the present disclosure, when it is determined that theminimum number of connected vehicles that are needed for the carry-outof the advertisement event is not reached within a predetermined periodof time, the plurality of connected vehicles is configured to receive acancellation notice of the advertisement event from the server over thenetwork.

In another embodiment of the present disclosure, when it is determinedthat the minimum number of connected vehicles that are needed for thecarry-out of the advertisement event is reached within a predeterminedperiod of time, drivers of the connected vehicles participating in theadvertisement event receive a reward for participating in theadvertisement event.

In an aspect of the present disclosure, a driver of a connected vehicleof the system receives a penalty when the connected vehicle isdetermined to deviate from the carry-out of the advertisement event inwhich the driver of the connected vehicle has selected to participate.

Further, in an aspect of the present disclosure, when a first connectedvehicle of the system participating in the advertisement event isstopped at a traffic light, the first connected vehicle is configured toreproduce, via an external speaker of the first connected vehicle, anaudio content of the advertisement.

In an aspect of the present disclosure, when a second connected vehicleof the system participating in the advertisement event is stopped at thetraffic light, the second connected vehicle is configured to wait untilan end of reproduction of the audio content of the advertisement via theexternal speaker of the first connected vehicle, and the first andsecond connected vehicles are configured to reproduce a sameadvertisement in a synchronized manner as a group of connected vehicleswhile the first and second connected vehicles are stopped at the trafficlight.

In another aspect of the present disclosure, when the plurality ofconnected vehicles of the system participating in the advertisementevent is configured to reproduce the advertisement as a stereoadvertisement.

In an aspect of the present disclosure, when the connected vehicles ofthe system participating in the advertisement event are stopped at atraffic light or stopped at a certain location or moving with a speedlower than a predetermined speed, the connected vehicles are configuredto reproduce the same advertisement via external displays and/orspeakers of the connected vehicles in a coordinated manner as a clusteradvertisement.

In as aspect of the present disclosure, when the coordinated mannercomprises a simultaneous reproduction of the same advertisement or asequential reproduction of the same advertisement as a roundadvertisement among the plurality of connected vehicles.

In another aspect of the present disclosure, when it is determined thatthe connected vehicles are coming to a stop, the reproduction of thesame advertisement on external speakers of the connected vehicles iscontrolled so that an audio of the same advertisement is increased inaccordance with decreasing speeds of the connected vehicles coming tothe stop for a purpose of simultaneously reproducing the sameadvertisement on the connected vehicles.

In an aspect of the present disclosure, the system is configured toaward a reward to a driver of a connected vehicle for safe driving, thereward including a discount in an auto insurance premium or otherbenefits.

In another aspect of the present technology, a system of connectedvehicles is disclosed. When the connected vehicles are parked near eachother in a parking lot, the connected vehicles are configured toreproduce one or more advertisements when one of the connected vehiclesreceives a signal from a remote controller associated with the one ofthe connected vehicles.

In an aspect of the present disclosure, the one or more advertisementsof the system are selected for reproduction based at least in part on aprofile of a user of the one of the connected vehicles, vehicle profileinformation, or location information of the connected vehicles.

In an aspect of the present disclosure, the connected vehicles of thesystem are configured to form a cluster and reproduce an advertisementvia external displays and/or speakers of the connected vehicles in asynchronized manner as the cluster, when the one of the connectedvehicles receives the signal from the remote controller associated withthe one of the connected vehicles.

In an aspect of the present disclosure, the connected vehicles of thesystem are further configured to reproduce the one or moreadvertisements after the one of the connected vehicles outputs a soundand/or a flash in response to the signal received from the remotecontroller associated with the one of the connected vehicles.

In another aspect of the present technology, a connected vehicleincluding an autonomous driving unit and an advertisement identificationunit coupled to the autonomous driving unit is disclosed. The autonomousdriving unit is configured to self-drive the connected vehicle withlittle or no human input. The advertisement identification unit isconfigured to recognize and identify one or more visual contents of anadvertisement reproduced on an external display of another vehicle or abillboard display nearby.

In an aspect of the present disclosure, the advertisement identificationunit of the connected vehicle is further configured to recognize the oneor more visual contents of the advertisement reproduced on the externaldisplay, based in part on a number of pixels in the external display.Further, the recognition of the one or more visual contents of theadvertisement may be done based on a marker inserted in the one or morevisual contents of the advertisement, to inform the advertisementidentification unit that the one or more visual contents are designedfor reproduction on the external display. The marker may include animage frame of advertisement, a quick response (QR) code, anidentification symbol or number or the like.

In an aspect of the present technology, an autonomous vehicle includingan autonomous driving unit, an advertisement system and an advertisementidentification unit is disclosed. The autonomous driving unit isconfigured to self-drive the connected vehicle with little or no humaninput. The advertisement system may be coupled to the autonomous drivingunit and configured to reproduce one or more advertisements on theautonomous vehicle. The advertisement identification unit may be coupledto the advertisement system and be configured to recognize and identifyone or more visual contents of an advertisement reproduced on anexternal display of another vehicle or a billboard display nearby.Further, the recognition and identification of the one or more visualcontents of an advertisement may be done based in part on a number ofpixels in the external display or based in part on a marker inserted inthe one or more visual contents of the advertisement to inform theadvertisement identification unit that the one or more visual contentsare designed for reproduction on the external display. The marker mayinclude an image frame of advertisement, a quick response (QR) code, anidentification symbol or number, or the like.

In an aspect of the present technology, a connected vehicle including anin-vehicle audio system and an advertisement system coupled to thein-vehicle audio system is also disclosed. The in-vehicle audio systemof the connected vehicle is configured to stream music inside theconnected vehicle for one or more occupants in the connected vehicle.The advertisement system of the connected vehicle is configured todetect the streaming of music and to reproduce, based on the musicplayed, one or more advertisements for the one or more occupants insidethe connected vehicle.

In an aspect of the present disclosure, the advertisement system of theconnected vehicle is further configured to: create the one or moreadvertisements based in part on one or more segments of the music thatis played inside the connected vehicle and reproduce the one or moreadvertisements at an end of the streaming of the music.

In another aspect of the present disclosure, the advertisement systemmay be further configured to create the one or more advertisements basedin part on one or more segments of the music that is played inside theconnected vehicle and reproduce the one or more advertisements at theend of the reproduction or playing of the music. Further, the one ormore advertisements may be created based in part on a melody of themusic and profile information of the one or more occupants in theconnected vehicle. That is, the advertisement system may be furtherconfigured to detect a melody of the music that is being played andcreate the one or more advertisements based in part on the melody of themusic and profile information (e.g., age, sex, preferences, moods, orthe like) of the one or more occupants in the connected vehicle.

In an aspect of the present disclosure, the one or more advertisementsare created based in part on the melody of the music based on a numberof characters or words in a commercial music that is going to be createdas part of the one or more advertisements.

In an aspect of the present disclosure, after the reproduction of themelody of the music, the one or more advertisements are reproducedwithin a predetermined period of time.

In an aspect of the present disclosure, the advertisement system of theconnected vehicle is further configured to control the reproduction ofthe one or more advertisements based in part on whether the music isplayed via an in-vehicle radio or a mobile device via Bluetooth. When itis determined that the music is played from the in-vehicle radio, theadvertisement system is configured to determine one or more intervals oftime between reproductions of different music pieces or programs andreproduce the one or more advertisements that are created during the oneor more intervals of time. Further, when it is determined that the musicis played from the mobile device via Bluetooth, the advertisement systemis configured to communicate with the in-vehicle audio system andcontrol timings of streaming of the music such that the one or moreadvertisements that are created are reproduced between reproduction ofdifferent music pieces.

In another aspect of the present disclosure, the advertisement system isfurther configured to send to the server over the network information onthe music that is being played, receive from the server the one or moreadvertisements that are created based in part on one or more segments ofthe music or a melody of the music, and reproduce the one or moreadvertisements at the end of the reproduction of the music inside theconnected vehicle.

In another aspect of the present technology, a connected vehicle whichis an electric vehicle including an advertisement system is alsodisclosed. The advertisement system is configured to detect presence ofpeople near the connected vehicle via one or more proximity sensors andreproduce one or more audio advertisements via external displays and/orexternal speakers of the connected vehicle. Also, the one or moreadvertisements may be reproduced via the external speakers of theconnected vehicle in such a way that the one or more audioadvertisements reproduced provide to the people with an alert message ofthe presence of the connected vehicle, in place of imaginary enginesounds, for safety of people outside the connected vehicle.

In an aspect of the present disclosure, the connected vehicle isconfigured to reproduce a same advertisement substantiallysimultaneously with other connected vehicles disposed near the connectedvehicle or to reproduce an advertisement in coordination with otherconnected vehicles.

In an aspect of the present disclosure, the electric vehicle is furtherconfigured to include an auxiliary battery for operation of theadvertisement system and powering the external speakers, such that theone or more advertisements are reproduced by the advertisement systemwhen the electric vehicle is off but the presence of people near theelectric vehicle may be detected.

In an aspect of the present disclosure, the external speakers of theelectric vehicle comprise one or more vibration speakers based in parton one or more vibration media.

In another aspect of the present technology, a connected vehicleincluding an advertisement system is disclosed. The advertisement systemis configured to reproduce one or more advertisements on one or moreexternal displays, and the one or more advertisements comprisenon-commercial information.

In an aspect of the present disclosure, the advertisement system isfurther configured to reproduce the non-commercial information betweenreproductions of commercial advertisements on the one or more externaldisplays, and the non-commercial information comprises news, weather,traffic or other public information or announcements. Further, thenon-commercial information may include real-time scores for sportsgames.

In an aspect of the present disclosure, the non-commercial informationincludes location-based information relating to transportation schedulesincluding bus or train arrival times, when the connected vehicle isdisposed at or near a bus or train station. Further, in another aspectof the present disclosure, the non-commercial information may includeflight schedule when the connected vehicle is disposed at or near anairport or an airport shuttle stop in a city.

In another aspect of the present technology, it is disclosed that anadvertisement platform for reproducing one or more advertisementincludes a plurality of connected vehicles forming a cluster ofconnected vehicles, and the plurality of connected vehicles isconfigured to reproduce the one or more advertisements as a clusteradvertisement or an interactive advertisement.

In an aspect of the present disclosure, the reproduction of the clusteradvertisement in the advertisement platform includes simultaneousreproduction of a same advertisement in synchronization with otherconnected vehicles of the cluster.

In an aspect of the present disclosure, the reproduction of theinteractive advertisement in the advertisement platform includesreproduction of a same advertisement among the cluster, in which theconnected vehicles are each assigned one or more different roles in thereproduction of the same advertisement.

In an aspect of the present disclosure, the reproduction of the clusteradvertisement or the interactive advertisement in the advertisementplatform is controlled either by a server over a network or by a masterconnected vehicle among the plurality of connected vehicles of thecluster.

In an aspect of the present disclosure, the reproduction of theinteractive advertisement in the advertisement platform is configured torespond to input from a person who views the interactive advertisement.

In an aspect of the present disclosure, the one or more advertisementsin the advertisement platform are provided by a server over a network,by one or more in-vehicle storage systems, or by one or more removablestorage systems.

In another aspect of the present technology, the plurality of connectedvehicles in the advertisement platform is configured to provide publicguidance information via external displays of the connected vehicles orexternal speakers of the connected vehicles while driving on a road,when an emergency vehicle approaches the plurality of connected vehicleson the road.

As such, in various aspects of the present disclosure, one or moreadvertisements may be delivered and/or reproduced on a plurality ofconnected vehicles so that the effect of advertisement may besignificantly increased. Also, using one or more connected vehicles asan advertisement platform, as well as by reproducing the one or moreadvertisements, based in part on location information, local timeinformation, or attributes of people around the connected vehicles, theeffect of advertisement may be significantly increased.

The following brief description of the drawings and the detaileddescription of the exemplary embodiments of the present technology areprovided for better understanding of the present technology.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A more detailed understanding may be obtained from the followingdescription in conjunction with the following accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is an overall network diagram conceptually illustrating anexample embodiment of the present technology in accordance with anaspect of the present disclosure;

FIGS. 2A-2C are diagrams conceptually illustrating example embodimentsof the present technology in accordance with an aspect of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 3 is a diagram conceptually illustrating an example embodiment ofthe present technology in accordance with an aspect of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 4 conceptually illustrates an example embodiment of the presenttechnology in accordance with an aspect of the present disclosure;

FIGS. 5A, 5B, and 5C conceptually illustrate example embodiments of thepresent technology in accordance with an aspect of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 6 conceptually illustrates an example embodiment of the presenttechnology in accordance with an aspect of the present disclosure;

FIG. 7 conceptually illustrates an example embodiment of the presenttechnology in accordance with an aspect of the present disclosure;

FIG. 8 conceptually illustrates an example embodiment of the presenttechnology in accordance with an aspect of the present disclosure;

FIG. 9 is a block diagram conceptually illustrating an example of anembodiment in accordance with an aspect of the present disclosure;

FIG. 10 conceptually illustrates an example embodiment of the presenttechnology in accordance with an aspect of the present disclosure;

FIGS. 11A, 11B, and 11C conceptually illustrate an example embodiment ofthe present technology in accordance with an aspect of the presentdisclosure;

FIGS. 12A and 12B conceptually illustrates an example embodiment of thepresent technology in accordance with an aspect of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 13 conceptually illustrates an example embodiment of the presenttechnology in accordance with an aspect of the present disclosure;

FIGS. 14A and 14B conceptually illustrate example embodiments of thepresent technology in accordance with an aspect of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 15 conceptually illustrates an example embodiment of the presenttechnology in accordance with an aspect of the present disclosure;

FIGS. 16A and 16B conceptually illustrate an example embodiment of thepresent technology in accordance with an aspect of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 17 conceptually illustrates an example embodiment of the presenttechnology in accordance with an aspect of the present disclosure;

FIG. 18 conceptually illustrates an example embodiment of the presenttechnology in accordance with an aspect of the present disclosure;

FIG. 19 conceptually illustrates an example embodiment of the presenttechnology in accordance with an aspect of the present disclosure;

FIG. 20 conceptually illustrates an example embodiment of the presenttechnology in accordance with an aspect of the present disclosure;

FIG. 21 conceptually illustrates an example embodiment of the presenttechnology in accordance with an aspect of the present disclosure;

FIG. 22 conceptually illustrates an example embodiment of the presenttechnology in accordance with an aspect of the present disclosure;

FIG. 23 conceptually illustrates an example embodiment of the presenttechnology in accordance with an aspect of the present disclosure;

FIG. 24 conceptually illustrates an example embodiment of the presenttechnology in accordance with an aspect of the present disclosure;

FIGS. 25A and 25B conceptually illustrates example embodiments of thepresent technology in accordance with an aspect of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 26 conceptually illustrates an example embodiment of the presenttechnology in accordance with an aspect of the present disclosure;

FIGS. 27A and 27B conceptually illustrates example embodiments of thepresent technology in accordance with an aspect of the presentdisclosure; and

FIG. 28 conceptually illustrates an example embodiment of the presenttechnology in accordance with an aspect of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The detailed description of illustrative examples will now be set forthbelow in connection with the various drawings. The description below isintended to be exemplary and in no way limit the scope of the claimedinvention. It also provides a detailed example of possibleimplementation(s) and is not intended to represent the onlyconfiguration(s) in which the concepts or present technology describedherein may be practiced. Further, the detailed description includesspecific details for providing a thorough understanding of variousconcepts, and it is noted that these concepts may be practiced withoutthese specific details. In some instances, well known structures andcomponents are shown in block diagram form to avoid obscuring suchconcepts or clarity of presentation. Also, it should be noted that likereference numerals are used in the drawings to denote like elements andfeatures.

While the methodologies are described herein sometimes as a series ofsteps or acts, for simplicity, the claimed subject matter is to beunderstood to not be limited by the order of these steps or acts, assome steps or acts may occur in different orders and/or concurrentlywith other acts from that shown and described herein. Further, not allillustrated steps or acts may be required to implement variousmethodologies according to the present technology disclosed herein.Also, it should be appreciated that the apparatus and methods describedherein may be utilized separately or in combination with other aspectsof the present disclosure, or in combination with conventionaltechnology, without departing from the teachings of the presentdisclosure or technology.

In the present disclosure disclosed herein, various terms or phrases asused herein are defined as follows. The term “advertisement platform” asused herein mean a system including one or more connected vehiclesconfigured to reproduce one or more advertisements. The phrase“advertisement content(s)” or the term “advertisement” as used hereinmeans any content, either audio advertisement or visual advertisementfor a product, a service, including but not limited thereto, videos,audios, live TV broadcasts, news, weather, mission, surveys, votes,interactive games, sports updates, etc. that may be delivered via one ormore audio, image, or video files in various formats. The advertisementmay include an audio content and/or a visual content. The term “audioadvertisement content,” “audio advertisement,” or “audio content” asused herein means an audio component of an advertisement. The term“visual advertisement content” or “visual content” as used herein meansa visual or image component of an advertisement. The term “audioadvertisement” as used herein may also mean an audio without image orvisual content so that only audio systems such as speakers are used forreproducing the audio advertisement. Further, the term “visualadvertisement” or “image advertisement” as used herein may mean a visualadvertisement without audio content so that only displays are used forreproducing the visual advertisement.

The term “connected vehicle(s)” as used herein means one or morevehicles or transportation means including but not limited theretoelectric vehicles, either stationary or moving, which are capable ofbeing connected to a network, e.g., an Internet protocol (IP) network,and can communicate with one or more computing devices over the network.The connected vehicles may include conventional vehicles equipped withone or more advertisement systems in aspect of the present disclosure.The connected vehicles may be configured to include some interior spacesfor one or more occupants, e.g., a driver or passengers fortransportation purposes and may be configured to include autonomousvehicles as well as non-autonomous vehicles. An “autonomous vehicle” isalso known as a self-driving vehicle that is capable of sensing itsenvironment and moving with little or no human input and may beconfigured to include one or more autonomous driving units.

The term “coupled to” or its variations as used herein means beingconnected to or in communication with, e.g., a certain device over anetwork via various network protocols.

The term “a display means” or its variations are used herein to mean adisplay device including certain electronic display means, including butnot limited to, a liquid crystal display (LCD) display, a light emittingdiode (LED) display, an organic LED (OLED) display, or other types ofdisplay which is capable of outputting one or more visual advertisementcontents. Further, the display means may include a flexible displaywhich is flexible in nature, as opposed to more traditional flat screendisplays used in most electronic devices. The flexible display mayincorporate different types of electronic paper technology such as, butnot limited thereto, electrophoretic or electrowetting technologies.

The term “audio means” as used herein means any type of audio meansincluding, but not limited to, one or more speakers which are capable ofoutputting audio or sounds. The audio means may include traditionalspeakers and/or vibration speakers.

The term “location information” as used herein means certain informationor data including, but not limited to, location data which aredetermined based on global positioning system (GPS), cellular signals,Wi-Fi signals, beacon signals, etc. The term “proximity information” isalso used herein to mean certain position information of an objectrelative to another object, and may include distance information amongtwo or more objects, based on technologies such as, including but notlimited thereto, ultra-wideband (UWB), lidar, laser, camera, ultrasonicwaves, etc.

The term “preceding” as used herein means being ahead of or in front ofat a certain distance between two or more connected vehicles which maybe moving in a direction or stationary. The term “following” as usedherein means being disposed behind a connected vehicle while moving in adirection or stationary.

The term “billboard” as used herein means a general structure displayingone or more advertisements, such as, including but not limited thereto,a stationery structure, e.g., a conventional billboard, a wall of abuilding, etc., or a display disposed on a side of a vehicle, which maybe stationary or moving. Also, the billboard may include one or morecomputing devices and/or communication devices.

The term “a discount rental fee” as used herein means a code or couponfor a discount in a rental fee of a connected vehicle. The term “amaximum reward route” as used herein means a route in which one cancollect a maximum amount of rewards possible using or riding in aconnected vehicle. The term “an expected advertisement effect” as usedherein means an effect of advertisement including both quantifiable andnon-quantifiable effects. An example of an expected advertisement effectmay be a numerical value assigned to a number of viewers of anadvertisement outside a connected vehicle.

Further, the terms “audio,” “audio content” or “audio advertisement” maybe used interchangeably; the terms “image,” “image content” or “imageadvertisement” may be used interchangeably and the terms “video,” “videocontent” or “video advertisement” may be used interchangeably to meanthe same subject matter. In the present disclosure, each advertisementmay include either an audio or an image advertisement content.

The term “mission advertisement” or “mission” as used herein means oneor more advertisements that are carried out or reproduced by at leastone vehicle, e.g., connected vehicle when a driver of the at least onevehicle accepts a mission or mission advertisement that is madeavailable by a system or server over a network. A mission or missionadvertisement may be determined based in part on factors including, butnot limited thereto, certain location information, time, duration, etc.related to the one or more advertisements requested by an advertiser.

The term “cluster advertisement” as used herein means one or moreadvertisements reproduced simultaneously or in a coordinated manner byat least three vehicles as a cluster, e.g., group of connected vehicles.That is, a cluster advertisement may include a non-interactiveadvertisement or an interactive advertisement. The non-interactiveadvertisement includes a same advertisement simultaneously reproduced bya cluster of connected vehicles using external displays and/or externalspeakers, thereby amplifying and increasing the effect of anadvertisement that is reproduced. On the other hand, the interactiveadvertisement may include a same advertisement reproduced by the clusterof connected vehicles in a coordinated manner, but each connectedvehicle may take on a role different from others in the sameadvertisement. The interactive advertisement may include the sameadvertisement reproduced as a single body with different roles assignedto each connected vehicle in the cluster. The interactive advertisementmay also include a stereo advertisement disclosed herein. Further, theinteractive advertisement may interact with bystanders or pedestriansand receive input from them.

The term “individual advertisement” as used herein means one or moreadvertisements reproduced by a connected vehicle when not participatingin either a mission advertisement or a cluster advertisement. In theindividual advertisement, either an image or a video advertisement maybe reproduced, based on a predetermined order, including but not limitedthereto, advertisement priority, a reproduction counter for a currentlyrunning advertisement, arrival time to a specific location, specifictime of the day, status on preceding and following vehicles, etc.

The term “parking advertisement” as used herein means one or moreadvertisements reproduced by at least one connected vehicle in a parkinglot. In a parking lot, such as a department store parking lot or otherpublic or private parking lot, a group of connected vehicles may beparked. In such a case, a cluster for advertisement may be formed andthe parking advertisement may be reproduced right after whentransmission of a wireless signal from a remote controller to a parkedvehicle near the cluster is detected. The term “public goodsadvertisement” or “public goods announcement” as used herein means oneor more public goods advertisements or announcements that are reproducedfor non-commercial purposes by at least one connected vehicle. Thepublic goods advertisement may include a video or an image displayingweather, dust, traffic, news, train or bus schedules, emergencyannouncements, etc. based on location of the connected vehicle.

The term “advertisement event” as used herein means an event designedfor carry-out of one or more advertisements by one ore more connectedvehicles for an advertiser at a particular purpose. The one or moreadvertisements may include a mission advertisement, a clusteradvertisement, an individual advertisement, a parking advertisement, ora public goods advertisement. In the present disclosure, theadvertisement event may also mean a mission advertisement, a clusteradvertisement, an individual advertisement, a parking advertisement, ora public goods advertisement.

FIG. 1 is a diagram conceptually illustrating an example embodiment ofthe present technology in accordance with an aspect of the presentdisclosure. FIG. 1 illustrates a high-level system including variouscomponents such as one or more clients 101 or 103, a network 105, one ormore servers 107, and one or more databases 109. The one or more clients101 may include one or more connected vehicles 101 or advertisementstructures 103, which are coupled to the network 105 via a firstwireless network 111. The first wireless network 111 may be implementedusing various telecommunications technologies, such as cellulartechnology and/or data communications technology, including but notlimited thereto, the 3^(rd) Generation (3G), the 4^(th) Generation (4G),the 5^(th) Generation (5G), or any other advanced future generationtelecommunications technologies, which are based on Internet Protocol(IP) or its variants. The network 105 may be composed of one or morepublic or private networks connecting the one or more clients 101 and103 to one or more servers 107 over a network.

In an aspect of the present disclosure, the one or more servers 107 mayinclude ADC servers which may be coupled to one or more databases 109.The one or more databases 109 may contain various types of data,including but not limited thereto, a database of advertisements (oradvertisement contents), a database of user profiles, a database ofadvertiser profiles, a database of news and other information (e.g.,news, videos, audios, broadcasts, weather news, missions, surveys orvotes, interactive games, etc.) and a database of the clients 101 and103. Further, the one or more servers 107 may be implemented to performvarious functions, including but not limited thereto, management andcontrol of advertisements. Also, the one or more servers 107 (e.g., ADCservers) may be configured to manage and control delivery ofadvertisements or advertisement contents to the one or more clients 101or 103 over the first wireless network 111. Also, the one or moreservers 107 may include account management functions for theadvertisement contents, advertisers, advertisement events, and users.The account management functions may also include information onsubscriptions, reward payments, etc. Further, in an aspect of thepresent disclosure, the one or more servers 107 may be implemented in asingle computer or over multiple computers as a distributed system. Theone or more servers 107 may also be implemented in cloud platforms.

Referring back to FIG. 1, in an aspect of the present disclosure, theone or more connected vehicles 101 may be configured to receive one ormore advertisements or advertisement contents from the servers 107,based in part on location information of the one or more connectedvehicles 101, via the network 105 and the wireless network 111, andoutput the one or more advertisements to occupants inside the one ormore connected vehicles 101 or people outside the one or more connectedvehicles 101. As such, as mentioned above, the one or more connectedvehicles 101 may operate as clients and the servers 107 (e.g., ADCserver(s)) as a server in a client-server environment. Also, in anotheraspect of the present disclosure, the one or more advertisements may bedetermined based in part on a local time and other factors such asattributes or characteristics of people (e.g., age, sex, preferences,etc.) around or outside the connected vehicles 101, in addition to thelocation information of the connected vehicles 101. That is, theconnected vehicles 101 may be configured to collect, via cameras,information on the attributes or characteristics of people outside theconnected vehicles 101 and sent the collected information to the servers107 for further processing. The one or more servers 107 may beconfigured to process the collection information for extractingcharacteristics or traits of the people outside the connected vehicles101. Many different image processing as well as data analytic tools maybe applied to identify and/or determine the attributes orcharacteristics such as age, sex, preferences, moods, trends, etc. someof which may be used in determining one or more advertisements that isgoing to be delivered and reproduced on the one or more connectedvehicles 101.

Further, the one or more connected vehicles 101 are each configured tosend to the servers 107 certain identification information of theconnected vehicles, such as vehicle identification number, user, driveror owner information. Further, the one or more connected vehicles 101may be configured to collect and send real-time to the servers 107location information of the connected vehicles, e.g., global positioningsystem (GPS), ultra-wideband (UWB) data, etc., as well as currentvehicle operating status and diagnostic data such as speed, temperature,operating conditions, etc.

Furthermore, the one or more connected vehicles 101 are each configuredto receive commands and/or data from the servers 107, such as, includingbut not limited thereto, advertisements or advertisement contents, news,or other types of data that are to be reproduced inside the connectedvehicles 101 or outside the connected vehicles 101 (e.g., via externalspeakers and/or displays). Alternatively, the one or more connectedvehicles 101 are each configured to independently take appropriateactions in response to certain commands from the servers 107 over thenetwork 105.

Further, as mentioned above, the client 103 may include a building orstructure, such as a billboard, equipped with displays and speakers forreproducing one or more advertisement contents. In another aspect of thepresent disclosure, the client 101 or 103 may be configured to sendcertain data to server(s) 107 over the network 105, such as currentlocation information, identification information, environmentalconditions including surrounding conditions, a micro dust amount in air,temperature, noise, etc. The client 101 or 103 is further configured toreceive from the servers 107 certain commands and/or information, inresponse, and process the received commands and/or information for oneor more actions, e.g., to display or reproduce information on theexternal displays of the clients 101 or 103. By way of example, theservers 107 may be configured to receive sensory data about the microdust amount in air from the client 101 or 103 disposed at a certainlocation, and send certain commands and/or data in response, e.g.,warning or alert messages, to the client 101 or 103 so that the warningor alert messages may be reproduced on the external displays and/orexternal speaker of the client 101 or 103 for the public or peoplenearby the client 101 or 103

FIGS. 2A-2C illustrate example embodiments of the present technology inan aspect of the present disclosure. By way of example, as shown inFIGS. 2A and 2B, each connected vehicle 101 may be equipped with variousdevices inside and outside in accordance with aspects of the presenttechnology. First, as shown in FIG. 2A, the connected vehicle 101 may beequipped with one or more external displays 205, one or more externalspeakers 211, and one or more external cameras 209, for reproducing oneor more advertisements or advertisement contents for people outside theconnected vehicle 101. Further, the connected vehicle 101 may includeinside one or more internal displays 205′, one or more internal speakers211′, and one or more internal cameras 209′, for reproducing one or moreadvertisement contents for occupants including drivers and/or passengersin the connected vehicle 101. In an aspect of the present disclosure,the one or more external speakers 211 or the one or more internalspeakers 211′ may include one or more vibration speakers which areconfigured to turn vehicle surfaces into speakers.

FIG. 2C illustrate a block diagram conceptually illustrating componentsof a connected vehicle 101 which includes an advertisement system 200 inan aspect of the present disclosure. By way of example, theadvertisement system 200 of FIG. 2C may be included in a vehicle, suchas a connected vehicle as shown in FIGS. 1-28. The advertisement system200 of FIG. 2C may include, but not limited thereto, various componentssuch as a main control unit (MCU) 233, a communication unit 235, asensor unit 237, an output unit 239, optionally an advertisementidentification (ID) unit 241, and optionally one or more databases 241.

In the example described herein, the main control unit 233 may beconfigured for management and control of devices or units of theadvertisement system 200 for the reproduction of one or moreadvertisements via the connected vehicle to increase the effect ofadvertisement. The main control unit 233 may be coupled to thecommunication unit 235 which may be configured to communicate with theone or more servers 107 over the network 105 or with other connectedvehicles 101 or structures 103, as shown in FIG. 1. Also, as for thecommunications with the one or more servers 107 over the network 105,various wireless telecommunications technologies such as the thirdgeneration (3G), the fourth generation (4G) or the fifth generation (5G)telecommunications technology may be used as the enabling technology forvoice as well as high-speed data services with Internet connectivity.Further, in an aspect of the present disclosure, the communication unit235 of the advertisement system 200 may be configured to include varioustransceivers that are needed for communicating with other connectedvehicles 101 or structures 103. For example, the wireless technologiessuch as Wi-Fi or other vehicular communication technologies, e.g.,vehicle to vehicle (V2V), vehicular ad hoc networks (VANETs), or thelike may be used for communications between the connected vehicles 101or between the connected vehicles 101 and the structures 103. In oneimplementation, V2V may be used between the connected vehicles 101,which is an automobile technology designed to allow automobiles tocommunicate with each other and is designed to use a region of 5.9 GHzband, and Wi-Fi may be used for communications between the connectedvehicles 101 and the structures 103.

Furthermore, the sensor unit 237 of the advertisement system 200 mayinclude a GPS, UWB transceivers, cameras, vehicular sensors,environmental sensors, etc. to collect various information and datarelating to the connected vehicle 101 as well as the surroundingenvironments. By way of example, the GPS of the sensor unit 237 may beused to collect rough location information of the connected vehicle 101,e.g., GPS coordinates, and the UWB transceivers may be used to obtainrelative location or more granular location information of the connectedvehicle 101 with respect to other connected vehicles nearby. In anotherimplementation, the sensor unit 237 may also include one or morelocation identification systems based on cellular signals, Wi-Fisignals, or beacons. Also, in another implementation, the sensor unit237 of the advertisement system 200 may include other locationidentification systems based on lidar, laser, ultrasonic waves, or thelike. Further, the sensor unit 237 of the advertisement system 200 mayinclude one or more cameras configured to capture images in real-time ofinside as well as outside of the connected vehicle, the images of whichwill be further processed various purposes including identification ofone or more advertisements, identification of people, identification andextraction of characteristics or attributes of people (e.g., age, sex,preferences, trends, etc.), for example.

In an aspect of the present disclosure, in the example, one or moreexternal cameras of the connected vehicle may be used to recognize ordetect, in cooperation with other software and/or hardware components,one or more advertisement contents displayed on other connected vehiclesor stationery or moving structures, such as billboards, trucks, buses,building walls, or etc. The one or more external cameras of theconnected vehicle may be used to determine certain traits of people,such as age, sex, preferences, etc. by processing images of the peopleoutside the connected vehicle, for reproducing one or more suitableadvertisement contents on the external displays and/or speakers of theconnected vehicle based on the determined trains of people. Further, inan aspect of the present disclosure, one or more internal cameras of theconnected vehicle may be used to recognize or detect, in cooperationwith other software and/or hardware components, certain data relating toone or more occupants in the connected vehicle, including a driver aswell as passengers. Further, the one or more internal cameras of theconnected vehicle may be used to determine certain traits of people,such as age, sex, preferences, etc. by processing images of the peopleinside the connected vehicle, for the purpose of reproducing one or moresuitable advertisement contents on the internal displays and/or speakersof the connected vehicle based on the determined traits orcharacteristics of people.

Further, the advertisement system 200 of the connected vehicle 101 mayoptionally include an advertisement identification unit 241 configuredto recognize and identify one or more visual contents of anadvertisement reproduced on external displays of other connectedvehicles or billboard displays nearby.

Additionally, the advertisement system 200 of the connected vehicle 101may optionally include one or more databases comprising a database ofadvertisement contents, a database of advertisers, and/or profiles ofdrivers, users, or owner of the connected vehicle 101, etc. In an aspectof the present disclosure, the one or more databases 241 of theadvertisement system 200 may be used to reproduce advertisements oradvertisement contents including visual advertisement contents and/oraudio advertisement contents on the connected vehicle 101 or otherconnected vehicles 101, without retrieving the advertisements from theone or more servers 107 over the first wireless network 111 as shown inFIG. 1.

Further, the one or more databases 241 may include advertisementcontents, news, weather, videos, audios, broadcasts, user profiles,driver profiles, vehicle owner profiles, vehicle status profiles, ormany others. As noted above, the “advertisement” or “advertisementcontent” includes both audio and/or visual components. The user profilesmay include various information on a user of the connected vehicle,including but not limited thereto, personal data including name, age,sex, shopping preferences, interests, past use history, preferred routeinformation, etc. The driver profiles may include various information ona driver of the connected vehicle, including but not limited thereto,personal data including name, age, sex, shopping preferences, past usehistory, driving habits, etc. In one implementation, the user profilemay be the same as the driver profile, but not necessarily so in otherimplementations. The vehicle owner profiles may include variousinformation on a vehicle owner, including but not limited thereto,personal data including name, age, sex, shopping preferences, interests,driving habits, auto insurance, etc.

Further, in another aspect of the present disclosure, the one or moredatabases 241 of the advertisement system 200 disposed in the connectedvehicle 101 may be automatically updated on a regular basis over thefirst wireless network 111 from the one or more servers 107 over thenetwork 105. Further, the one or more databases 241 of the advertisementsystem 200 may automatically synchronize on a periodic basis in part orin whole with one or more network databases via the one or more servers107 over the network.

FIG. 3 illustrates a diagram conceptually illustrating variouscomponents of one or more servers 107 over the network 105 for managingand delivering advertisement contents to connected clients 101 or 103.By way of example, in an aspect of the present disclosure, a server 107(e.g., ADC server) may be configured to include a communications unit301, a management and control 303, and an account management 311. Theserver 107 may further include, or alternatively coupled to, one or moredatabases, including but not limited thereto, a database ofadvertisement contents 305, a database of user profiles 307, a databaseof advertiser profiles 309. Further, in another aspect of the presentdisclosure, various other functionalities or databases may beimplemented in multiple servers in a distributed manner.

In an aspect of the present disclosure, the communication unit 301 ofthe server 107 may be configured to include a receiving unit (not shown)configured to receive certain data (e.g., vehicle location information,vehicle status and diagnostic data, advertisement status, etc.) from oneor more clients 101 or 103 and a transmitting unit (not shown)configured to send commands and/or data including advertisements to theclients 101 or 103. Also, the management and control 33 of the server107 may be configured to manage and control the connected vehicles 101as well as delivery of the advertisements to the connected vehicles 101.Further, the account management 311 of the server 107 may be configuredto store and manage accounting data (e.g., subscription status, rewardsstatus, payment status, etc.) relating to the users, drivers, vehicleowners, as well as advertisers. The account management 311 of the server107 may be configured to administer payment of one or more rewards tothe users, drivers, or vehicle owners when certain actions are taken,which the advertisers specify relating to the advertisements that arereproduced by the connected vehicles.

Furthermore, in an aspect of the present disclosure, the database ofadvertisement contents 305 may be configured to include one or moreadvertisements or advertisement contents that are to be delivered to theconnected vehicles 101 over the network 105 and 111. As noted above,each advertisement may include audio and/or visual components, e.g.,audio advertisement content and/or visual advertisement content. Also,the one or more advertisements may be selected and delivered to theconnected vehicles over the network, based on certain information suchas, including but not limited thereto, location information of theconnected vehicles, local time information, advertisement eventinformation, advertiser requests, or attributes of people (e.g., age,sex, preferences, etc.).

In another aspect of the present disclosure, the database of userprofiles 307 may be configured to include one or more profiles of users(including drivers) of a connected vehicle, e.g., user information,including but not limited thereto, name, age, sex, personal preferences,interests, preferred routes, shopping habits, an amount of rewards, etc.

Further, in an aspect of the present disclosure, the database ofadvertisers 305 may be configured to include one or more profiles ofadvertisers, e.g., advertiser information, including but not limitedthereto, advertiser name, location, type of business, advertisementcontents, reward payment criteria, etc. The advertiser may include acorporate entity or an individual person who pays for an advertisementevent.

Furthermore, the one or more servers 107 may include (or be coupled to)databases of other types of information such as current news, sportsnews, weather information, podcasts, live broadcasts, videos, audios,etc. that may be of interest to the public.

Having discussed some aspects of the systems of the present technologyat a high level, more detailed aspects of the present technology areprovided in the following using flowcharts and various embodiments.

FIG. 4 illustrates different types of advertisement that may bereproduced on connected vehicles in accordance with an aspect of thepresent technology. By way of example, one or more advertisementsdisclosed herein may be classified into different types: missionadvertisements, cluster advertisements, individual advertisements,parking advertisements, and public goods advertisements. One may includeothers. The connected vehicles such as 101 of FIG. 1 may be configuredto reproduce one or more of different types of advertisements based inpart on location information of the connected vehicles and/orinstructions received from a server such as the server 107.

In the present disclosure, the mission or mission advertisement mayinclude one or more advertisements that are carried out or reproduced byat least one vehicle, e.g., connected vehicle 101, when a driver of theat least one vehicle accepts a mission or mission advertisement that ismade available by a system or server (e.g., the ADC server such as theserver 107) over a network. The mission or mission advertisement may bedetermined based in part on factors, including but not limited thereto,certain location information, time, duration, etc. related to the one ormore advertisements requested by an advertiser. Further, the missionadvertisement may further include an advertisement service provided fora special event including but not limited thereto, a birthday,Christmas, New Year's Day, Thanksgiving Day, Veterans Day, etc.

As mentioned above, a cluster advertisement may include one or moreadvertisements reproduced simultaneously or in a coordinated manner byat least three vehicles as a cluster, e.g., a group of connectedvehicles. Further, the cluster advertisement may include anon-interactive advertisement or an interactive advertisement. For thecluster advertisement, a cluster may be formed by the ADC server basedon two sets of vehicle information that each connected vehicle collectsand/or sends to the ADC server: a first set (e.g., GPS information) forrough location information and a second set (e.g., UWB data) for preciselocation and position information. Based on these two sets of data, theADC server may determine the precise location and relative positioninformation of the connected vehicle. As such, the cluster may bedetermined by the ADC server in consideration of: the vehicle location,status of an advertisement in reproduction in the vehicle, a vehicleprofile, an advertiser profile, advertiser location, advertisement eventdetails, or the like.

In an aspect of the present disclosure, the vehicle location includescurrent location information of a connected vehicle and/or destinationlocation information. The advertiser location includes locationinformation of one or more stores of an advertiser. The event locationmay include location information where an advertisement is to takeplace. The event location may include a spot near the one or more storesof the advertiser or a specific driving route of interest. The status ofan advertisement in reproduction in the vehicle may include informationon a type of advertisement, identification of the advertisement, and howmuch time is remaining for playing the advertisement, or the like. Thevehicle profile may include information including vehicle type, model,make, color, size, etc. The advertiser profile may include informationincluding advertiser preferences such as types of advertisements,durations, target audience, routes, rewards, or the like.

Further, in the example, based on the received information from theconnected vehicle, the ADC server may be configured to determine whetherthe connected vehicle is to participate in a specific clusteradvertisement. As such, after the determination, the ADC server maynotify the connected vehicle of a status of the connected vehicle as toparticipation in a cluster advertisement, e.g., cluster advertisementapproved (in) or cluster advertisement not approved (out). Further, theADC server may be configured to determine whether the connected vehicleis to participate in an advertisement event based in part on userpreferences. In the present disclosure, the term “user preference(s)” asused herein may mean one or more preference(s) indicated by a driver oruser of a connected vehicle, as part of a profile stored in a databaseover a network. That is, a user of the connected vehicle may indicatehis or her desire to participate in one or more advertisement events inthe user's profile. As mentioned above, user profiles of registeredusers of connected vehicles may be stored in a database which is coupledto the ADC server, and the ADC server may access the database of theuser profiles and consult the profile of the user (or driver) of theconnected vehicle to determine whether the connected vehicle is toparticipate in the advertisement event.

Also, an individual advertisement may include one or more advertisementsreproduced by a connected vehicle when not participating in either amission advertisement or a cluster advertisement. In the individualadvertisement, either an image or a video advertisement may bereproduced, based on a predetermined order, including but not limitedthereto, advertisement priority, a reproduction counter for a currentlyrunning advertisement, arrival time to a specific location, specifictime of the day, status on preceding and following vehicles, etc.

Further, a parking advertisement may include one or more advertisementsreproduced by at least one connected vehicle in a parking lot. In aparking lot, such as a department store parking lot or other public orprivate parking lot, a group of connected vehicles may be parked. Insuch a case, a cluster for advertisement may be formed and the parkingadvertisement may be reproduced right after when transmission of awireless signal from a remote controller to a parked vehicle near thecluster is detected. Furthermore, a public goods advertisement or publicgoods announcement includes one or more public goods advertisements orannouncements that are reproduced for non-commercial purposes by atleast one connected vehicle. The public goods advertisement may includea video or an image displaying weather, dust, traffic, news, train orbus schedules, emergency announcements, etc. based on location of theconnected vehicle.

FIGS. 5-8 illustrates example process flows in accordance with aspectsof the present disclosure. FIGS. 5A-5C are example flowcharts and FIGS.6-8 are message diagrams conceptually illustrating communicationsbetween a connected vehicle and the server 107.

FIG. 5A is a diagram conceptually illustrating, at a high level, aprocess flow as to how a connected vehicle carries out an advertisementin accordance with an aspect of the present disclosure. By way ofexample, at S501, a connected vehicle sends periodically certain vehicleinformation to a server over a network, e.g., ADC server 107. Thecertain vehicle information may include real-time data on GPS location,UWB, vehicle speed, vehicle diagnostic information, compass information,advertisement in progress, etc.

At S503, the ADC server is configured to use the GPS location data toroughly determine the current location of the connected vehicle and UWBdata to determine the more precise location of the connected vehiclealong with relative positioning information among a plurality ofconnected vehicles. Also, the ADC server may use the compass data to aidin determining the orientation of the connected vehicle at the currentlocation of the connected vehicle, relative to other connected vehiclesin the area. Further, the ADC server may use the vehicle speed, vehiclediagnostic information, advertisement in progress, or the like todetermine the current status of the connected vehicle as well asadvertisement reproduction status on the connected vehicle.

At S505, the ADC server is further configured to determine one or moreadvertisements that are suitable for reproduction on the connectedvehicle based in part on received information from the connectedvehicle, in accordance with an example flowchart shown in FIG. 5B. Basedon the received information from the connected vehicle, the ADC serveris configured to determine location information of the connectedvehicle, as well as advertisement candidates for reproduction, atS505-1. The advertisement candidates may be determined from a databaseof advertisements based on the determined location of the connectedvehicle, vehicle profiles, as well as advertiser profiles.

At S505-2, the ADC server is further configured to select one or moreadvertisements that are to be reproduced by the connected vehicle, e.g.,as a cluster advertisement (S505-3), a mission advertisement (S505-4),an individual advertisement (S505-5), a parking advertisement (S505-6),and a public goods advertisement (S505-7). The cluster advertisement isselected only when the connected vehicle is determined to be able toparticipate in a cluster advertisement, based on the location of theconnected vehicle, a driver profile, an advertiser profile, vehicleinformation (e.g., model, make, color, etc. of the connected vehicle),or the like. The mission advertisement is selected when the connectedvehicle is determined to be able to perform a mission advertisementevent as requested by an advertiser. The individual advertisement isselected when the connected vehicle is determined to be able to performan individual advertisement, not able to participate in the clusteradvertisement, mission advertisement, parking advertisement, or publicgoods advertisement. Further, the individual advertisement may include avideo advertisement or an image advertisement.

At S507, the ADC server is further configured to send commands to theconnected vehicle for reproducing one or more advertisements includinginformation on a type of advertisement such as, a mission advertisement,a cluster advertisement, an individual advertisement, a parkingadvertisement, or a public goods advertisement.

At S509, the connected vehicle is further configured to receive thecommand from the ADC server and other related data including visualand/or audio advertisement contents relating to the type ofadvertisement commanded for reproduction on the connected vehicle.

At S511, the connected vehicle is further configured to reproduce theone or more advertisements either internally via internal displaysand/or speakers or externally via external displays and/or speakers. Inthe even that the connected vehicle detects the reproduction of anexisting advertisement is in progress, the connected vehicle is furtherconfigured to wait until the reproduction of the existing advertisementis finished unless instructed otherwise from the ADC server.

At S513, after successful execution of one or more advertisement events,the connected vehicle (and/or the driver of the connected vehicle)receives a notification of award of reward(s) for participation in theadvertisement event, e.g., reproducing the one or more advertisementsrequested by the ADC server.

Further, in particular, with respect to a mission advertisement, FIG. 5illustrates an example flow for a mission advertisement in accordancewith an aspect of the present disclosure.

At S542, the connected vehicle is configured to send vehicle informationto the ADC server every 1 or 2 seconds, including various data such asGPS, UWB, vehicle speed, vehicle diagnostics, compass, advertisementreproduction status, etc.

At S543, the ADC server is configured to determine the location of theconnected vehicle based in part on the received information from theconnected vehicle. By way of example, the GPS location data is used toroughly determine the current location of the connected vehicle andadditionally, the UWB data is used to determine a more precise locationof the connected vehicle along with relative positioning informationamong a plurality of connected vehicles. In one implementation, for thelocation information, the GPS data may be used, and for granularlocation information, as needed for further applications, the UWB datamay be used in addition to the GPS data.

Also, in an aspect of the present disclosure, the ADC server may beconfigured to use the compass data as well as the UWB data to assist indetermining orientation information of the connected vehicle, relativeto other connected vehicles nearby. Further, the ADC server may beconfigured to use a vehicle driving data such as the vehicle speed,vehicle diagnostic information, status on advertisements inreproduction, advertisement details (e.g., identification and durationof the advertisement, etc.) or the like to determine the current drivingstatus of the connected vehicle as well as the advertisementreproduction status on the connected vehicle.

At S545, the ADC server is configured to send a mission inquiry alongwith mission information, based in part on the location of the connectedvehicle, driver profile, advertiser profile, or the like. Some driversmay prefer to carry out mission advertisements than other types ofadvertisements. Some advertisers may also prefer to use certain types ofconnected vehicles (e.g., vehicle make, model, size, color, etc.) fortheir advertisements. Based on such profiles of the driver andadvertisers, as well as the information of the connected vehicle, theADC server may be configured to identify and classify the connectedvehicle as a mission candidate vehicle for a carry-out of one or moremission advertisements.

At S547, the ADC server is further configured to determine whether anacceptance reply from the connected vehicle is received for the missionadvertisement. At S549, if the acceptance reply from the connectedvehicle is received from the connected vehicle, then the ADC serversends out details on the mission advertisement. If not accepted, thenthe process for the mission advertisement for the connected vehicleterminates.

At S551, the ADC server is further configured to monitor whether themission advertisement is successfully carried out by the connectedvehicle. If the mission advertisement is successfully carried out, thenthe ADC server is configured to pay rewards(s) to the driver of theconnected vehicle that successfully completed the mission, at S553. If,during the mission advertisement, however, the connected vehicle failedto carry out the mission advertisement or deviated from the missionadvertisement guidance, then a penalty is assessed and imposed on thedriver of the connected vehicle at S555.

In the example, the mission advertisement may be a cluster advertisementor an individual advertisement along a specific route. That is, themission advertisement may require the connected vehicle to show up aspecific location at a certain designated time and carry out the clusteradvertisement. Also, the mission advertisement may require the connectedvehicle to show up at a specific location at a certain designated timeto drive around a certain route while reproducing a specificadvertisement on external displays and/or speakers of the connectedvehicle. The mission advertisement may be designed based in part on oneor more advertiser's specific needs.

FIGS. 6-8 are message diagrams conceptually illustrating communicationsbetween a connected vehicle 101 and a server 107 (e.g., ADC server) forexample applications in accordance with aspects of the presentdisclosure.

For example, FIG. 6 shows messages exchanged between the connectedvehicle 101 and the ADC server 107 for a mission advertisement. At thebeginning of a process, the connected vehicle 101 periodically sendsmessage(s) (e.g., Message Type 1) to the ADC server sends vehicleinformation including but not limited thereto, vehicle identification(ID), GPS information, UWB information, vehicle RPM information, vehiclespeed information, advertisement status information, or the like. Basedon the received information from the connected vehicle 101, the ADCserver 107 sends to the connected vehicle 101 a message (e.g., MessageType 2) asking whether to participate in an upcoming mission. Then theconnected vehicle 101 replies to the ADC server 107 in response to theinquiry message whether to accept the mission or reject the mission(e.g., Message Type 3). The message of Message Type 3 may includecertain information such as vehicle ID, mission accept time, etc. Uponreceiving the mission accept message, the ADC server 107 sends to theconnected vehicle 101 details on the upcoming message (e.g., MessageType 4). The message may include certain information such as vehicle ID,advertisement content (video and/or audio advertisement content),vehicle path, start time, duration, or the like. After completing themission based on information contained the message (e.g., Message Type4), the connected vehicle 101 sends a report message informing the ADCserver 107 (e.g., Message Type 5) that the mission has been successfullycompleted. Upon receiving the message of successfully completion of themission from the connected vehicle 101, the ADC server 107 determineswhether the mission was carried out in accordance with missioninstructions or details, whether there was any deviation during thecarry-out of the mission, or the like. After the successful completionof the mission by the connected vehicle 101 is confirmed, the ADC server107 provides one or more rewards and send a message including a rewardnotification and number of advertisements carried out during the missionfor accounting purposes.

FIG. 7 illustrates messages exchanged between the connected vehicle 101and the ADC server 107 for a cluster advertisement. At the beginning ofa process, the connected vehicle 101 periodically sends message(s)(e.g., Message Type 1) to the ADC server sends vehicle informationincluding but not limited thereto, vehicle identification (ID), GPSinformation, UWB information, vehicle RPM information, vehicle speedinformation, advertisement status information, or the like. Based on thereceived information from the connected vehicle 101, the ADC server 107determines whether the connected vehicle 101 is suitable forparticipation in a cluster advertisement. The ADC server 107 sends tothe connected vehicle 101 a message (e.g., Message Type 2) includingdetails on the cluster advertisement. For example, the connected vehiclemay be informed whether the connected vehicle 101 is selected for acarry-out of the cluster advertisement, which in an aspect of thepresent disclosure is based in part on the location and profileinformation, through the “in” or “out” status information included inthe message of Message Type 2. The connected vehicle 101 performs thecluster advertisement and after completing the cluster advertisementcontained the message (e.g., Message Type 2), the connected vehicle 101sends a report message informing the ADC server 107 (e.g., Message Type3) that the cluster advertisement has been successfully completed. Uponreceiving the message of successfully completion of the clusteradvertisement from the connected vehicle 101, the ADC server 107determines whether the cluster advertisement was carried out inaccordance with the cluster advertisement instructions or details. Afterthe confirmation of the successful completion of the clusteradvertisement by the connected vehicle 101, the ADC server 107 providesone or more rewards and send a message including a reward notificationand number of advertisements carried out during the mission foraccounting purposes.

FIG. 8 illustrates messages exchanged between the connected vehicle 101and the ADC server 107 for an individual advertisement. At the beginningof a process, the connected vehicle 101 periodically sends message(s)(e.g., Message Type 1) to the ADC server sends vehicle informationincluding but not limited thereto, vehicle identification (ID), GPSinformation, UWB information, vehicle RPM information, vehicle speedinformation, advertisement status information, or the like. Based on thereceived information included in the message of Message Type 1 from theconnected vehicle 101, the ADC server 107 determines whether theconnected vehicle 101 is suitable for participation in an individualadvertisement. The ADC server 107 sends to the connected vehicle 101 amessage (e.g., Message Type 2) including details on the individualadvertisement. The connected vehicle 101 performs the individualadvertisement and after completing the individual advertisementcontained the message (e.g., Message Type 2), the connected vehicle 101sends a report message informing the ADC server 107 (e.g., Message Type3) that the individual advertisement has been successfully completed.Upon receiving the message of successfully completion of the clusteradvertisement from the connected vehicle 101, the ADC server 107determines whether the individual advertisement was carried out inaccordance with the individual advertisement instructions or details.After the confirmation of the successful completion of the individualadvertisement by the connected vehicle 101, the ADC server 107 providesone or more rewards and send a message including a reward notificationand number of advertisements carried out during the mission foraccounting purposes. Further, in other implementations, one or moreprocesses like the those shown in FIGS. 6-8 may be adopted for othertypes of advertisement such as parking advertisements as well as publicgoods advertisements.

FIG. 9 illustrates an example diagram conceptually illustrating anapparatus for implementing various functions, e.g., control andmonitoring functions or units or circuitry, in connected vehicle (asshown in FIGS. 1-28), structures 103, and advertisement system 200and/or the server 107. By way example, as shown in FIGS. 1-3, theadvertisement system 200, various components of the advertisement system200 (e.g., the main control unit 233, the communication unit 235, thesensor unit 237, the output unit 239, the advertisement identificationunit 241, databases, or the like), the server 107, various components ofthe server 107 (e.g., the communication unit 301, the management andcontrol unit 303, the account management unit 311, databases 305, 307,and 309), and other components may be implemented using in part anexample apparatus 900 shown in FIG. 9.

As shown in FIG. 9, a bus 901 may link together various circuits,including one or more processing systems (or processors) 903, one ormore memories (or storage units) 905, one or more communicationinterfaces 907, and/or optionally one or more input/output devices 909.The one or more processing systems 903 may be responsible for managingthe bus and general processing, including the execution of softwarestored on a non-transitory computer-readable medium, relating to the oneor more functions for present technology as disclosed herein.

Further, the one or more processing systems 903 may include one or moreprocessors, such as microprocessors that interpret and executeinstructions. In other implementations, the one or more processingsystems 903 may be implemented as or include one or more applicationspecific integrated circuits (ASICs), field programmable gate arrays(FPGAs), or the like. The software, when executed by the one or moreprocessing systems 903, may cause the one or more processing systems 903to perform the various functions or methodologies described herein forany apparatus. The non-transitory computer-readable medium may also beused for storing data that is manipulated by the one or more processingsystems 903 when executing software.

Furthermore, the one or more memories 905 may include various types ofmemories, including a random-access memory and/or a read only memory,and/or other types of magnetic or optical recording medium and itscorresponding device for storing information and/or instructions and/orretrieval thereof. Further, the one or more communication interfaces 907may also include or coupled to any transceiver-like mechanism thatenables communication with other devices and/or systems. The one or moreinput/output devices 909 may include devices that permit inputtinginformation and/or outputting information to an operator.

FIGS. 10-28 illustrate various embodiments of the present technology inaccordance with aspects of the present disclosure.

FIG. 10 illustrates an example embodiment in accordance with an aspectof the present technology. In an aspect of the present disclosure, alevel of driver participation in an advertisement event may be increasedby providing a quest (or recommendation) according to a driving route ofthe driver and available advertisement events. That is, in an aspect ofthe present disclosure, each of the plurality of connected vehicles maybe configured to: receive input on a driving destination from a driverof the connected vehicle, send the received input to the server over thenetwork, and in response, receive one more quests (or recommendations)from the server for a driving route. The one or more quests may bedetermined by the server, based in part on information on one or moredriving routes to the driving destination of the driver, and availableadvertisement events in the one or more driving routes.

As shown in FIG. 10, by way of example, a driver of a connected vehicle101 may enter a driving destination via an application on the driver'smobile device 1000 or an in-vehicle navigation device (not shown). Theinputted destination information is transmitted to a server 107 over anetwork 105, via one or more messages 1001. The server 107 then isconfigured to receive the destination information and determine one ormore advertisement campaign(s) or event(s) within the driver's drivingpath. The server 107 may be configured to prepare and send one or morequest(s) including information on the one or more advertisementcampaign(s) or event(s), via one or more push notifications 1003 on themobile application 1000 in the mobile device. Alternatively, the one ormore quest(s) including information on the one or more advertisementcampaign(s) or event(s) may be sent to the in-vehicle navigation devicefor presenting to the driver for selection. That is, it is possible toprovide in real-time information about available advertisement eventswithin the driver's expected driving route, e.g., a commute path, viapush notifications on the driver's mobile device.

In an aspect of the present disclosure, alternatively, it may be alsopossible to receive input on a specific destination in advance from thedriver, and to provide to the driver real-time information on anadvertisement event within one hour from the estimated departure timethrough one or more push notifications of a mobile phone application.

Further, in another aspect of the present disclosure, the server 107 maybe configured to include a function to prepare and recommend one or morequest(s) in consideration of a travelling route, time or the like, withrespect to a connected vehicle suitable for the characteristics of theadvertisement event among registered advertisement vehicles includingconnected vehicles such as 101, based on the location and timeinformation of the advertisement event inputted by an advertiser.Further, the characteristics of the advertisement event may includetarget advertisement audience including audience's age, sex, preference,etc.

In an aspect of the present disclosure, the driver of the connectedvehicle 101 may review the received quest(s) and accept the one or morequest(s) prior to departure to the specific destination. When the one ormore quest(s) are accepted by the driver, a driving route according tothe one or more quest(s) is set in an in-vehicle navigation system ofthe connected vehicle and driving instructions are provided to thedriver of the connected vehicle. Alternatively, the driver of theconnected vehicle 101 may request and receive a different request forchange while driving to the specific destination.

As a result, the level of driver participation in advertisement event(s)may be greatly increased, by providing one or more quests based on aplanned driving route of a driver of the connected vehicle 101.

FIGS. 11A, 11B and 11C illustrate example embodiments in accordance withan aspect of the present technology. In preparation for performing aparade or a mission for an advertisement event using a plurality ofconnected vehicles 101, there may be a need for controlling theconnected vehicles 101 to cluster at a predetermined area. By way ofexample, in preparation for performing the parade or the mission, theplurality of connected vehicles may be instructed to gather together ata predetermined location, e.g., a parking lot or a road with the leasttraffic.

As shown in FIG. 11A, in one implementation, if one or more connectedvehicles 101 await other connected vehicles on a road, there may be adanger of causing an accident or interfering with other vehicles on theroad while waiting for other connected vehicles to follow in the parade.Thus, as shown in FIG. 11B, in an aspect of the present disclosure, theconnected vehicles 101 that are to participate in a parade for anadvertisement event may be clustered either in a designated parking lot1101 or on a road with the least amount of traffic on the road 1103.

In an aspect of the present disclosure, the server 107 may be configuredto search for a parking lot nearby a target parade area and sendcommands or instructions to a plurality of connected vehicles 101 thatare going to participate in the parade to drive and cluster in theparking lot in preparation for the parade. In another aspect of thepresent disclosure, when there is no such a parking lot for theplurality of connected vehicles that are going to participate in theparade to cluster for the parade, the server 107 may be furtherconfigured to search for a road nearby the target parade area with theleast amount of traffic on the road, and send commands or instructionsto the plurality of connected vehicles 101 to cluster on the road 1103in preparation for the parade. In the example, the server 107 maycollect and analyze data on traffic density or vehicle densityinformation on the roads around the target parade area and select anappropriate cluster location based in part on distance to the targetparade area and traffic or vehicle density information.

In another aspect of the present disclosure, during a parade, a trafficlight may separate the cluster into two groups, a first group and asecond group. In such a case, the first group and the second group needto be controlled so that the two groups can be re-clustered for theparade. That is, during the parade, when the cluster for the parade getsbroken into multiple groups by a traffic light, then speeds as well asdriving routes of the connected vehicles in multiple groups arecontrolled by the server 107 over the network such that the multiplegroups cluster again into a single procession for the parade or themission.

By way of example, as shown in FIG. 11C, a plurality of connectedvehicles 101 participating in the parade (forming a cluster) areseparated into the first group 1109 and the second group 1107 by atraffic light. For an effective management of the parade, the server 107may be configured to detect that the cluster is separated into twogroups by the traffic light. The server 107 may be configured to providedifferent driving instructions to the first group 1109 and the secondgroup 1107 respectively. For example, the server 107 may providedirections to the first group to drive at a lower speed after theseparation and provide instructions to the second group that follows thefirst group to drive at a higher speed so that the first and secondgroups can re-cluster at a point for carrying out of the parade. Theserver 107 may also verify minimum and/or maximum speed limits on theroad and provide appropriate instructions to the first and the secondgroups for re-clustering for the parade.

In another aspect of the present disclosure, the server 107 may collectroad information nearby for preparing instructions for the re-clusteringfor the parade. The server 107 may further provide a set of instructionsto the first group to drive to a road with less traffic and wait therefor re-clustering and provide another set of instructions to the secondgroup to drive to the road on which the first group is waiting andre-cluster as a group for the parade.

FIGS. 12A and 12B illustrates an example embodiment in accordance withan aspect of the present technology. During a parade for anadvertisement event, when driving routes for the parade are simplyprovided to a driver of a connected vehicle participating in the paradeand asked to participated in the parade, there may be a confusion to thedriver because the driver may not be able to identify or determinewhether a preceding vehicle in front of his or her vehicle is anothervehicle participating in the same parade. As such, in an aspect of thepresent disclosure, the vehicles participating in the same parade may beprovided with vehicle information during the parade by the server 107.

In the example, as shown in FIG. 12A, the server 107 may provide vehicleidentification information of a preceding vehicle to the connectedvehicle 101 that is participating in the parade for internal display ofthe information to the driver of the connected vehicle. That is, theconnected vehicle 101 receives the information and display on aninternal display 205′ of the connected vehicle 101 for participation inthe parade. For example, the driver of the connected vehicle 101 onlyneed to confirm that he or she is following the connected vehicleidentified as “2.0.1.8”. Further, the server 107 may additionally sendidentification information of the connected vehicle 101 to the precedingvehicle 101′ participating in the parade such that the driver of theconnected vehicle 101 may see the identification information of theconnected vehicle 101 on the external displays of the connected vehicle101′. As a result, the driver of the connected vehicle 101 may confirmthat the connected vehicle 101 is following a correct vehicle forsuccessful execution of the parade.

Alternatively, the plurality of connected vehicles participating in theparade may communicate with each other to manage and control theconnected vehicles independent of the server 107 until the end of thesuccessful execution of the parade. One of connected vehicles may beselected as a master vehicle which serves to manage the parade order andcluster management during the parade. For example, during the parade, atethered communication link may be established and maintained among theplurality of connected vehicles participating in the parade for a smoothexecution of the parade. When a connected vehicle is determined to bedriving out of order in the parade, one or more alert messages aregenerated and displayed on internal displays of the connected vehiclesthat are driving out of order. Based on the one or more alert messages,the drivers of the connected vehicles may take corrective action toregroup and participate in the parade as the cluster. Alternatively,when the server detects out-of-order connected vehicles in the parade,the server may send driving instructions to the out-of-order connectedvehicles to form the cluster as originally designed for the parade.

FIGS. 13, 14A and 14B illustrate example embodiments in accordance withan aspect of the present technology. In an aspect of the presentdisclosure, during a parade in which a plurality of connected vehiclesdrives together in a target parade area, reproducing the sameadvertisement, the effect of advertisement may be maximized by inducingrepeat recognition.

By way of example, as shown in FIG. 13, for connected vehicle 101 form acluster for the parade, in which the same advertisement is to bereproduced on the connected vehicles for the benefit of an advertiser'sstore 1301. For an effect of repeat recognition on people outsideviewing the advertisement on the parade, the connected vehicles 101 maymake 2-3 turns of the parade around the indicated route (e.g., a repeatrecognition route indicated by arrows). FIG. 13 illustrates an exampleof a repeat recognition route showing a single turn 1305 of the repeatrecognition route.

In an aspect of the present disclosure, the server 107 may be configuredto identify a repeat recognition route for the parade based in part onfactors including the location of the advertiser's store, trafficdensity on roads nearby the advertiser's store, and/or densityinformation of people in the area. The number of turns around the repeatrecognition route may also be determined based in part on the abovefactors.

Further, in another aspect of the present disclosure, as shown in FIG.14A, the connected vehicles participating in the parade may beclassified and sub-grouped for the parade based on vehicle informationsuch as vehicle type, color, etc. As shown in FIG. 14A, by way ofexample, two different subgroups 1401 and 1403 may be formed near thetarget area, based on the vehicle information (e.g., vehicle type,model, make, color, size, or etc.) and drive along different paraderoutes. The two different sub-groups 1401 and 1403 are configured toreproduce the same or similar advertisement during the parade on thedifferent parade routes, thereby increasing the effect of theadvertisement during the parade.

Further, as shown in FIG. 14B, in another aspect of the presentdisclosure, two or more sub-groups, e.g., sub-groups 1405 and 1407, maybe formed for the parade near the target area based in part on types ofadvertisements and/or advertisement contents or vehicle information. Inthe example, when the advertisement contents are selected forreproduction based on driver's preferences, etc., the connected vehiclesthat are to reproduce similar advertisements may be grouped into thedifferent sub-groups 1405 and 1407 for the parade on the differentparade routes.

In an aspect of the present disclosure, in one implementation, theserver 107 may be configured to determine appropriate subgroups for theparade based in part on vehicle information and driver's preference ofthe connected vehicles participating in the parade. Further, suchgroupings (or clustering) for the parade may be done based in part onother factors, including but not limited thereto, a density of people onnearby roads, profile information of people on streets near the targetarea, types of advertisements to be reproduced by different subgroups,types of vehicles, make or model of vehicles, color of vehicles, etc. orany combination thereof. For some advertisements, factors having similarcharacteristic may be considered for the subgrouping of the connectedvehicles participating in the parade. For other advertisements, factorshaving different characteristic may be considered for the subgrouping ofthe connected vehicles participating in the parade, to maximize theeffect of the advertisement on people viewing the advertisementsreproduced on the connected vehicles participating in the parade.

FIG. 15 illustrates an example embodiment in accordance with an aspectof the present technology. In an aspect of the present disclosure,during a parade of connected vehicles 101 for an advertisement event,some vehicles may desire to participate in the parade. In such a case,the server may be configured to allow a vehicle to participate in theparade, even though the vehicle has not registered for the advertisementevent in advance of the parade. By way of example, as shown in FIG. 15,a vehicle 1501 may try to cut in the middle of the parade of connectedvehicles 101. The sever 107 may be configured to detect such an attemptto cut in the parade by the vehicle 1501 and determine whether thevehicle 1501 can successfully participate in the parade. The server 107may receive a request for registration for the advertisement event via amobile application on the driver's mobile phone. Upon receipt of therequest, the server 107 checks whether the vehicle 1501 is equipped toparticipate in the advertisement event. After the vehicle 1501 isdetermined to be able to participate in the parade for the advertisementevent, the server 107 may send information on the advertisement forreproducing on the vehicle 1501.

By way of example, as shown in FIG. 15, the vehicle 1501 may beconfigured to project the advertisement using an in-vehicle projector orthe like onto a rear or side window of the vehicle 1501, as shown in1503, and participate in the parade procession, reproducing the same orsimilar advertisement through an in-vehicle projector or the like in thevehicle 1501. That is, the vehicle 1501 may be configured to project thesame or similar advertisement on a rear window shield or a side windowof the vehicle 1501, while participating in the procession of theparade. After the parade is finished, the server 107 may be configuredto award a reward to the vehicle 1501 for participation in the parade.In the example, as noted above, although the vehicle 1501 may not beregistered in advance prior to the participation in the parade, duringthe parade, the driver of the vehicle 1501 may register for theparticipation in the parade via the mobile application on the driver'smobile device.

FIGS. 16A and 16B illustrate example embodiments in accordance with anaspect of the present technology. A planned advertisement event may becancelled due to a shortage of target connected vehicles participatingin the planned advertisement event. As shown in FIG. 16A, an applicationor in-vehicle display 1601 may be used to provide to a driver of theconnected vehicle 1600 (having components like those of the connectedvehicle 101) who signed up for participation in an upcomingadvertisement event, real-time information about whether a predeterminedtarget number of connected vehicles for carrying out the advertisementevent has been reached or recruited.

In the example, the driver of the connected vehicle 1600 may find outvarious information about the upcoming advertisement event through anin-vehicle display 1601. In the example, the in-vehicle display 1601 mayshow that for the upcoming advertisement event, a predetermined targetnumber of connected vehicles is set to 15 and so far, only 5 connectedvehicles are recruited for the upcoming advertisement event, as well aslocations of the connected vehicles. The predetermined target number ofconnected vehicles for the advertisement event may be set by the server107 based on input from an advertiser 1605 that is sponsoring or payingfor the advertisement event. When it is determined that for the upcomingadvertisement event a minimum target number of connected vehicles hasnot been reached and it is less than a predetermined time duration(e.g., one hour) from the start of the planned advertisement event, theserver 107 may send a notice of cancellation to the connected vehicle1600 that is recruited for the advertisement event. The predeterminedtime duration may be provided by the sponsoring advertiser. Further, ifthe number of connected vehicles participating in the upcomingadvertisement event is high, the server 107 may pay a high reward 1609to participating connected vehicles (or drivers of the connectedvehicles), thereby inducing or encouraging a high level of participationin the advertisement event.

In another aspect of the present disclosure, connected vehicles that arerecruited for participation in the advertisement event are continuouslymonitored by the server 107. This is because some drivers of theconnected vehicles who signed up for the upcoming advertisement eventmay not participate in the advertisement event, which is disadvantageousto the advertiser who invested in the upcoming advertisement event. Assuch, as shown in FIG. 16B, when the server 107 determines that theconnected vehicle 1600 fails to participate in the advertisement eventfor which the connected vehicle 1600 was recruited, the server 107 isconfigured to impose a penalty to the connected vehicle 1600 (or thedriver of the connected vehicle 1600). The penalty may be in the form ofa deduction in points. Also, when the connected vehicle 1600 or thedriver of the connected vehicle 1600 is determined to fail toparticipate in the advertisement events over than a certain number oftimes, e.g., 3 times, the server 107 may restrict the connected vehicle1600 or the driver of the connected vehicle 1600 from participating infuture advertisement events.

Thus, the effect of advertisement using the connected vehicles may beincreased based on high rewards for participation in the advertisementevents as well as penalties for failure to participate in signed-upadvertisement events.

FIG. 17 and FIG. 18 ((a), (b), and (c)) illustrates an exampleembodiment in accordance with an aspect of the present technology. Whena same advertisement (e.g., an audio advertisement) is reproduced at astop signal of a traffic light, the reproduction of the sameadvertisement by connected vehicles may be viewed as noise to othervehicles or pedestrians when each connected vehicle is configured toreproduce the same advertisement at each stop of each connected vehicle1701, 1702, or 1703 (having components similar to those of the connectedvehicles 101) without coordination with each other, as shown in FIG. 17.In such a case, the effect of the audio advertisement may be greatlyreduced. In an aspect of the present disclosure, a process forsynchronizing the reproduction of the audio advertisement is disclosedherein to effectively reproduce the same advertisement simultaneously onthe plurality of connected vehicles 1701, 1702, and 1703 entering thestop signal of the traffic light.

Referring to FIGS. 18 (a)-(c), in another aspect of the presentdisclosure, a connected vehicle 1803 approaches and comes to a stopsignal of the traffic light 1705, shown in FIG. 18 (a). The connectedvehicles 1801 and 1803 have components like those of the connectedvehicles 101. First, it is determined whether there is another connectedvehicle already stopped at the stop signal of the traffic light 1705. Ifthere is no other connected vehicle already stopped at the stop signalof the traffic light 1705, then a first advertisement (including anaudio and/or a video content) is immediately reproduced while theconnected vehicle 1803 is stopped at the stop signal of the trafficlight 1705. In the example, the connected vehicle 1803 may be configuredto receive the first advertisement from the server 107 for reproductionor retrieve the first advertisement from one or more internal storages.Further, the first advertisement may be selected based in part onlocation information of the connected vehicle 1803.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 18 (b), when it is determined thatthere is another connected vehicle 1801 already stopped at the trafficlight 1705 and the connected vehicle 1801 is reproducing a firstadvertisement (e.g., “Coca Cola”), the connected vehicle 1803 isconfigured to wait until the first advertisement is finished. When thereproduction of the first advertisement by the connected vehicle 1801 isfinished, the connected vehicle 1803 is configured to synchronize withthe connected vehicle 1801 for reproduction of a second advertisement asshown in FIG. 18 (c). That is, the timings of reproduction of the secondadvertisement by the first and second connected vehicles are controlledso that the first connected vehicle 1801 and the second connectedvehicle 1803 are configured to simultaneously reproduce the secondadvertisement using external speakers and/or external displays while thefirst connected vehicle 1801 and the second connected vehicle 1803 arestopped at the stop signal of the traffic light 1705. Further, in anaspect of the present disclosure, the synchronization among theconnected vehicles 1801 and 1803 may be obtained through the server 107over the network. Alternatively, the synchronization among the connectedvehicles 1801 and 1803 may be obtained through vehicle-to-vehiclecommunications between the connected vehicles 1801 and 1803.

FIG. 19 illustrates an example embodiment in accordance with an aspectof the present technology. In an aspect of the present disclosure, whilea plurality of connected vehicles (or advertisement vehicles) areclustered together, the same advertisement may be reproduced throughexternal speakers of connected vehicles, having the external speakersform a stereo system, thereby an effect of delivery of the advertisementwill likely be high on people outside the connected vehicles.

By way of example, in an aspect of the present disclosure, as shown inFIG. 19, when a plurality of connected vehicles 1901, 1902, and 1903(having components similar to those of the connected vehicles 101) arestopped and commanded to form a cluster for the purpose of reproducing asame advertisement via the plurality of connected vehicles 1901, 1902,and 1903, via external speakers and/or external displays of theconnected vehicles. In the example, each of the external speakers of theconnected vehicle is configured to form a stereo system to increase theeffect of the advertisement delivery.

Further, by way of example, the server 107 over a network may determine,based in part on location of the plurality of connected vehicles 1901,1902, and 1903, profiles of people (e.g., traits or characteristics ofpeople), or advertiser preferences that an ice cream advertisement bereproduced as a stereo advertisement by the cluster of connectedvehicles 1901, 1902, and 1903 at a specific location. That is, the threeconnected vehicles are configured to reproduce the same advertisement asa stereo advertisement. For example, the connected vehicle 1902 may beconfigured to play a background music (BGM) for the ice creamadvertisement via its external speakers, the connected vehicle 1903 maybe configured to reproduce an audio content of the advertisement, e.g.,“It is fun to choose and eat—” via its external speakers and theconnected vehicle 1901 may be configured to reproduce another audiocontent of the advertisement, e.g., “Baskin Robins 31˜” via its externalspeakers, thereby playing the advertisement as the stereo advertisement.In the example, there is no need to separately synchronize an audioadvertisement, and thus the effect of an advertisement delivery powercan be increased.

In an aspect of the present disclosure, the connected vehicle 1902 maybecome a master and the connected vehicles 1901 and 1903 may becomeslaves in a master-slave environment for reproducing the sameadvertisement. The master may assign different roles to slaves and maycontrol timings of reproduction of the same advertisement on theplurality of connected vehicles as the cluster.

Further, in the example, the server 107 over the network is configuredto send commands and control the plurality of connected vehicles 1901,1902, and 1903 to reproduce the same ice cream advertisement as a stereoadvertisement. However, in another aspect of the present disclosure, thegroup of connected vehicles 1901, 1902, and 1903 may form a cluster onan ad-hoc basis by communicating with each other. The master vehicle maybe determined among the group of connected vehicles 1901, 1902, and 1903to by the server 107. Alternatively, the master vehicle may bedetermined via ad-hoc communications among the group of connectedvehicles 1901, 1902, and 1903 to. Also, the server 107 may send the sameadvertisement to the plurality of connected vehicles in the cluster andassign different roles to the connected vehicles for reproducing thesame advertisement as the stereo advertisement. In anotherimplementation, the different roles may be determined based in part onprofiles of the connected vehicles (e.g., types of vehicles, color,make, size, etc.). As such, by delivering an advertisement in a moreinteresting way, e.g., a stereo advertisement using a plurality ofconnected vehicles, the effect of delivery of the advertisement may begreatly increased on people who are exposed to the stereo advertisement.

In another aspect of the present disclosure, as shown in FIG. 19, theone or more advertisements may be reproduced as a cluster advertisementor an interactive advertisement, using the plurality of connectedvehicles as an advertisement platform. In an aspect of the presentdisclosure, an advertisement platform for reproducing one or moreadvertisements may include a plurality of connected vehicles forming acluster of connected vehicles. The cluster of connected vehicles isconfigured to reproduce the one or more advertisements as a clusteradvertisement or an interactive advertisement. Further, in an aspect ofthe present disclosure, the reproduction of the cluster advertisementmay include reproduction of the same advertisement in synchronizationwith other connected vehicles in the cluster. Also, in another aspect ofthe present disclosure, the reproduction of the interactiveadvertisement may include reproduction of the one or more advertisementsamong the cluster, in which the plurality of connected vehicles may beassigned different roles in the reproduction of the interactiveadvertisement. In another aspect of the present disclosure, thereproduction of the cluster advertisement or the interactiveadvertisement may be controlled either by a server over a network or bya master connected vehicle among the cluster. Further, in another aspectof the present disclosure, the reproduction of the interactiveadvertisement may be configured to respond to input from a person whoviews the interactive advertisement reproduced by the cluster.Furthermore, in an aspect of the present disclosure, in the example, theone or more advertisements are provided by a server over a network, byone or more in-vehicle storage systems, or by one or more removablestorage systems.

FIG. 20 illustrates an example embodiment in accordance with an aspectof the present technology. In an aspect of the present disclosure, aplurality of connected vehicles may be configured to reproduce or playone or more advertisements in various forms as a group, to increase aneffect of the advertisement. During driving, it may be impossible toreproduce an advertisement through external speakers of the connectedvehicles due to the Doppler effect. Thus, to increase the effect of theadvertisement, when the connected vehicles are stopped or slowing down,a plurality of connected vehicles may be controlled to reproduce or playthe same advertisement through external speakers of the connectedvehicles participating in a parade.

By way of example, as shown in FIG. 20, a plurality of connectedvehicles 2001, 2002, and 2003 (each having components like those of theconnected vehicle 101) may come to a stop at a traffic stop 2000. Theplurality of connected vehicles 2001, 2002, and 2003 may be controlledto reproduce the same advertisement at the same time. Alternatively, inanother aspect of the present disclosure, the same advertisement may beplayed in a tune song form or a continuous manner, to increase theeffect of the advertisement. In an aspect of the present disclosure, theplayback or reproduction format of the same advertisement may bedetermined based in part on profiles of the connected vehicles orprofiles of people in a surrounding area, advertiser preferences, or thelike.

In another aspect of the present disclosure, the same advertisement maybe reproduced when the connected vehicles are parked in a certain areaor when the speed of the connected vehicles is below a certain level,e.g., 25 mph.

Further, in the example, the server 107 over the network is configuredto control the plurality of connected vehicles 2001, 2002, and 2003 toreproduce the same advertisement as a group of connected vehicles (or asa cluster advertisement). However, in another aspect of the presentdisclosure, the group of connected vehicles 2001, 2002, and 2003 mayform a cluster, and reproduce the same advertisement upon a command froma master vehicle. The master vehicle may be determined among the groupof connected vehicles 2001, 2002, and 2003 by the server 107.Alternatively, the master vehicle may be determined via ad-hoccommunications among the group of connected vehicles 2001, 2002, and2003.

Furthermore, in another aspect of the present disclosure, as mentionedherein with reference to various embodiments including those of FIGS.17-20, when a plurality of connected vehicles participating in anadvertisement event are stopped at a traffic light or parked at acertain location or moving with a speed lower than a predeterminedspeed, the plurality of connected vehicles is configured to reproducethe same advertisement via external speakers of the connected vehiclesin a coordinated manner. The coordinated manner may include asimultaneous reproduction of the same advertisement or a sequentialreproduction of the same advertisement as a round advertisement amongthe plurality of connected vehicles.

In the present disclosure, the term “round advertisement” as used hereinmeans an advertisement which can be reproduced by two or more connectedvehicles. In a round advertisement, similar to a round song, one groupof connected vehicles (or a first connected vehicle) starts offreproducing an advertisement and the next group of connected vehicles(or a second connected vehicle) starts to reproduce the sameadvertisement a bit later. When a group gets to the end of theadvertisement, the group reproduces the same advertisement again,replaying the advertisement several times.

Further, in another aspect of the present disclosure, betweenreproductions of advertisements for products, one or more video reviewsof the products by actual consumers may be reproduced, therebyincreasing the effect of the advertisements. By way of example, when aplurality of vehicles is stopped at a stop signal of a traffic light,there may be an excellent opportunity to utilize one or more videoadvertisement because there is enough time for external viewers to beexposed to the advertisement reproduced on the connected vehicles. Theconnected vehicles are configured to receive from the server (e.g., ADCserver) one or more review videos of products by real consumers andreproduce one or more review videos between the advertisements. In anaspect of the present disclosure, the one or more video reviews may beselected by an advertiser. The ADC server may provide an option to theadvertiser such that the advertise can i) search for related user reviewvideos using a video advertisement platform, including but not limitedthereto, e.g., YouTube®, and ii) select review videos with high viewercounts among the searched review videos. As a result, by playingconsumer produced review videos between advertisements on the connectedvehicles, more consumers can be attracted and consumer loyalty toproduct brands may be greatly increased.

FIG. 21 illustrates an example embodiment in accordance with an aspectof the present technology. In another aspect of the present disclosure,and by way of example, as shown in FIG. 21, the server 107 may beconfigured to monitor and detect that a plurality of connected vehicles2101, 2102, and 2103 (each having components like those of the connectedvehicle 101) are entering a stop signal at a traffic light 2000. When itis determined that a same audio advertisement is to be played orreproduced through external speakers of the connected vehicles 2101,2012, and 2013, the server 107 is configured to send control and commandinstructions to each of the connected vehicles 2101, 2102, and 2103, sothat the reproduction of the audio advertisement is synchronized.

By way of example, in the example, the server 107 is configured todetect that the connected vehicle 2103 is about to enter a particularzone, based on location information received from the connected vehicle2103. In the event that a particular audio advertisement is to bereproduced in the particular zone, the server 107 may be configured tosend commands and control messages, along with an advertisement, to theconnected vehicle 2103 which is approaching the traffic light 2000. Itis noted that the connected vehicle 2103 may further be configured toreproduce the advertisement inside the connected vehicle 2103, whileturning off the external speakers, before entering the stop signal. Uponentering the stop signal, however, the connected vehicle 2103 may turnon the external speakers for reproducing the audio advertisement via theexternal speakers. Further, the connected vehicle 2102 may be configuredto gradually increase the volume of the external speaker(s) inaccordance with the driving speed of the connected vehicle 2102.

Also, in an aspect of the present disclosure, in the example, all theconnected vehicles 2101, 2102, and 2103 entering the stop signal may becontrolled by the server 107 to reproduce the same audio advertisementvia the external speakers at the same time in a most natural manner, toincrease the effect of the advertisement.

Further, in the example, although the server 107 over the network isconfigured to control the plurality of connected vehicles 2101, 2102,and 2103 to reproduce the same advertisement in a coordinate manner.However, in another aspect of the present disclosure, the connectedvehicles 2101, 2102, and 2103 may communicate with each other andreproduce the audio advertisement, upon entering the particular zone andthe stop signal, independent of command and control by the server 107.

As such, the same audio advertisement may be effectively reproduced in asynchronized manner using external speakers of the connected vehiclesentering a stop signal in a particular zone, thereby increasing theeffect of the audio advertisement.

In an aspect of the present technology, a method or methodology fordelivering advertisements using a plurality of connected vehicles isdisclosed. The plurality of connected vehicles is configured toparticipate in an advertisement event and each connected vehicle isconfigured to receive one or more instructions from a server over anetwork to cluster near or at a target area for reproducing anadvertisement in a coordinated manner as a group of the connectedvehicles. Alternatively, each connected vehicle is configured to receiveone or more instructions from one of the connected vehicles over anothernetwork. In another aspect, the advertisement event may be a parade or amission, and the plurality of vehicles participating in theadvertisement event may be determined based in part on vehicle profilesor user preferences.

Further, when the advertisement event is a parade, the method is furtherconfigured to include continuously monitoring movements of the pluralityof connected vehicles participating in the parade by the server over thenetwork, or alternatively by one of the connected vehicles over anothernetwork. In an aspect of the present disclosure, during the parade, themethod further includes displaying vehicle identification information ofa preceding vehicle to follow in the parade on an internal display ofthe connected vehicle. In another aspect of the present disclosure, themethod further includes displaying vehicle identification information ofthe connected vehicle on an external display of the preceding vehiclethat the connected vehicle is following in the parade. In another aspectof the present disclosure, the method is further configured to includedisplaying on an internal display an indication of whether the connectedvehicle is at a right position in the parade.

In another aspect of the present disclosure, the method is furtherconfigured to include driving a predetermined route near or around thetarget are with a predetermined number of turns around the predeterminedroute, while reproducing the same advertisement in the coordinatedmanner as the group of connected vehicles, thereby increasing an effectof the advertisement on people outside the connected vehicles. Thepredetermined number of turns around the predetermined route may bedetermined in advance by the server over the network, based in part onlocation of an advertiser, a density of traffic, or a density of peopleon the predetermined route.

In another aspect of the present disclosure, the method is furtherconfigured to include receiving in advance, prior to arrival at or nearthe target area, real-time information on whether a minimum number ofconnected vehicles for a carry-out of the advertisement event hasalready arrived at or near the target area. Further, when it isdetermined that the minimum number of connected vehicles that are neededfor the carry-out of the advertisement event has not reached within apredetermined period of time, the method is further configured toinclude receiving a cancellation notice of the advertisement event fromthe server over the network. Further, when it is determined that theminimum number of connected vehicles that are needed for the carry-outof the advertisement event has reached within a predetermined period oftime, the method is further configured to include providing a reward todrivers of the connected vehicles participating in the advertisementevent for participating in the advertisement event. In an aspect of thepresent disclosure, the method is further configured to includeproviding a penalty to a driver of a connected vehicle participating inthe advertisement event when the connected vehicle is determined todeviate from the carry-out of the advertisement event in which thedriver of the connected vehicle has previously indicated to participate.

In another aspect of the present disclosure, when a first connectedvehicle of the plurality of connected vehicles participating in theadvertisement event is stopped at a traffic light, the first connectedvehicle is configured to reproduce via an external speaker of the firstconnected vehicle an audio content of the advertisement. When a secondconnected vehicle of the plurality of connected vehicles participatingin the advertisement event is stopped at the traffic light, the secondconnected vehicle is configured to wait until the reproduction of theaudio content of the advertisement by the first connected vehicle isfinished, and the first and second connected vehicles are configured toreproduce the same advertisement in a synchronized manner as the groupof connected vehicle while the first and second connected vehicles arestopped at the traffic light.

In another aspect of the present disclosure, the method is furtherconfigured to include, when the plurality of connected vehiclesparticipating in the advertisement event is configured to reproduce theadvertisement as a cluster advertisement, reproducing the clusteradvertisement as a stereo advertisement among the plurality of connectedvehicles.

In another aspect of the present disclosure, when the connected vehiclesparticipating in the advertisement event are stopped at a traffic lightor parked at a certain location or moving with a speed lower than apredetermined speed, the method is further configured to includereproducing the same advertisement via external speakers of theconnected vehicles in the coordinated manner. The coordinated mannerincludes a simultaneous reproduction of the same advertisement or asequential reproduction of the same advertisement as a roundadvertisement among the plurality of connected vehicles. In anotheraspect of the present disclosure, when it is determined that theconnected vehicles are coming to a stop, the method is furtherconfigured to include controlling the reproduction of the sameadvertisement on external speakers of the connected vehicles so that anaudio volume of the same advertisement is increased in accordance withlower speeds of the connected vehicles that are coming to the stop.

FIG. 22 illustrates an example embodiment in accordance with an aspectof the present technology. To maximize an effect of an advertisement, itis necessary to design various scenarios for when the advertisementneeds to be output or reproduced. By way of example, in an aspect of thepresent disclosure, a same audio content of an advertisement (or thesame audio advertisement) may be reproduced by a plurality of connectedvehicles that are parked in a parking lot (e.g., a parking lot of adepartment store or the like) when a specific event occurs in theparking lot.

In an aspect of the present disclosure, in FIG. 22, a connected vehicle2205 is parked among a plurality of other connected vehicles 2201, 2203,and 2207 in a parking lot 2200 of a department store. Each of theconnected vehicles 2201, 2203, 2205, and 2207 have components like thoseof the connected vehicle 101. When a driver of the connected vehicle2205 presses a button on a remote controller 2211 to lock or unlock thedoors of the connected vehicle 2205, a wireless signal is generated fromthe remote controller 2211. The connected vehicle 2205 receives anddetermines that the wireless signal from the remote controller 2211 isfor the connected vehicle 2205 and authenticates and respond to acommand embedded in the wireless signal. When a lock command may berecognized, the connected vehicle 2205 produces a beeping sound to alertthe user of the remote controller 2211 that the doors of the connectedvehicle are locked. Alternatively, when an unlock command may berecognized, the connected vehicle 2205 produces a being sound to alertthe user of the remote controller 2211 that the doors of the connectedvehicle are unlocked.

In the example, when transmission of the wireless signal from the remotecontroller 2211 is detected, a plurality of connected vehicles 2201,2203, and 2207 are configured to reproduce a same audio content of anadvertisement (or an audio advertisement) at the same time, for example,“Coca Cola”, relating to a specific event in the parking lot. In anaspect of the present disclosure, the audio advertisement may bereceived from a server like 107 over a network based in part on locationinformation of the plurality of connected vehicles 2201, 2203, 2205, and2207 as well as advertiser profiles.

Further, in another aspect of the present disclosure, after theconnected vehicle 2205 is parked in the parking lot, the connectedvehicle 2205 may communicate with the server over the network to receiveinstructions and/or advertisement details for reproduction on eitherexternal displays or external speakers of the connected vehicle 2205while the connected vehicle 2205 is parked in the parking lot.

Further, in another aspect of the present disclosure, when transmissionof a signal from the remote controller 2211 to the connected vehicle2205 is detected, the plurality of connected vehicles 2201, 2203 and2207 may reproduce a parking advertisement (either an audioadvertisement or a video advertisement) using external displays and/orexternal speakers.

Further, in another aspect of the present disclosure, when transmissionof a signal from the remote controller 2211 to the connected vehicle2205 is detected, the plurality of connected vehicles 2201, 2203 and2207 may reproduce a cluster advertisement (either an audioadvertisement or a video advertisement) using external displays and/orexternal speakers. The cluster advertisement may be a non-interactivegroup advertisement or an interactive group advertisement.

In an aspect of the present disclosure, a system of connected vehiclesis disclosed for delivering one or more advertisements, where theconnected vehicles are parked near each other in a parking lot and theconnected vehicles are configured to reproduce one or moreadvertisements when one of the connected vehicles is determined toreceive a signal from a remote controller associated with the one of theconnected vehicles. Further, the one or more advertisements may beselected for reproduction based at least in part on a profile of a userof the one of the connected vehicles, vehicle profile information, orlocation information of the connected vehicles. Also, the connectedvehicles are configured to form a cluster and reproduce an audio contentof an advertisement via external speakers of the connected vehicles in asynchronized manner as a group of the connected vehicles, when the oneof the connected vehicles is determined to receive the signal from theremote controller associated with the one of the connected vehicles.Further, the connected vehicles are configured to reproduce the audiocontent of the advertisement after the one of the connected vehiclesoutputs a sound/or a flash in response to the signal from the remotecontroller associated with the one of the connected vehicles.

As such, by reproducing an advertisement using connected vehicles parkedin a parking lot, an effect of advertisement relating to a specificevent may be greatly increased.

FIG. 23 illustrates an example embodiment in accordance with an aspectof the present technology. In an aspect of the present technology, theconnected vehicle such as 101 may be an autonomous vehicle. Whenautonomous vehicles are in common use and fully commercialized, theremay be a possibility that external displays of a vehicle may interferewith driving of an autonomous vehicle, e.g., the connected vehicle 101.In fact, there was an accident in which a TESLA model S vehicle in anautonomous mode collided with a large trailer, resulting in that anoccupant of the vehicle was killed. The reason for the accident is knownas a failure of an autopilot unit to detect and distinguish between awhite trailer and a brightly lit sky. When autonomous vehicles arecommercialized and in common use, a greater number of advertisements maybe reproduced on external displays on vehicles. As such, there may be agreater chance of having such an accident. Thus, there is a need for anadvanced technique for the connected vehicles (including autonomousvehicles) to detect and recognize an advertisement displayed on anexternal display as a series of image frames for the advertisement.

As noted above, an autonomous vehicle is also known as a self-drivingvehicle that is capable of sensing its environment and moving withlittle or no human input. In an aspect of the present disclosure, aconnected vehicle may include an autonomous driving unit, anadvertisement system, and an advertisement identification unit. Theautonomous driving unit may be configured to sense its drivingenvironment and drive the connected vehicle without human input. Theadvertisement system is configured to reproduce one or moreadvertisements on the autonomous vehicle. The advertisementidentification unit is configured to recognize and identify, through oneor more digital signal processing functions, one or more visual contentsof an advertisement reproduced on external displays of other connectedvehicles or billboard displays nearby.

In an aspect of the present disclosure, the advertisement identificationunit of the connected vehicle may be configured to recognize one or morevisual contents of the advertisement reproduced on the external display,based in part on a number of pixels of the external display. That is, aminimum number of pixels in a display panel may be used by one or moresensors to recognize it as a display panel. That is, the number ofpixels may be used as a marker for identifying the display panel, andon-board sensors along with image processing software in the connectedvehicle may be configured to recognize an image reproduced for anadvertisement purpose on the display panel as an “advertisement”.

In another aspect of the present disclosure, the advertisementidentification unit of the connected vehicle may be configured torecognize the one or more visual contents of the advertisementreproduced on the external display, based in part on one or more markersinserted (disposed) in the one or more visual contents of theadvertisement, to inform the advertisement identification unit that theone or more visual contents are advertisements designed for reproductionon the external display. The marker may include, but not limitedthereto, e.g., an image frame of advertisement, a quick response (QR)code, an identification symbol or number, or the like to indicate thatthe images are part of the advertisement.

Further, in another aspect of the present disclosure, as shown in FIG.23, the advertisement identification unit of the connected vehicle maybe configured to recognize the one or more visual contents of theadvertisement reproduced on the external display, based in part on oneor more image frames of advertisement inserted in the one or more visualcontents of the advertisement.

In one implementation, as shown in FIG. 23, an advertisement frame 2307may be inserted as a marker among the plurality of frames 230 in anadvertisement 2300 during one second reproduction time such that animage of a person 2301 in the advertisement in 2300 is recognized aspart of the advertisement, not an image of a real person. A driver maynot recognize with naked eyes, but the advertisement identification unitor processing systems of the connected vehicle may recognize thepresence of the marker embedded in the plurality of image frames of avideo content of the advertisement such that the video content isrecognized as an advertisement by the advertisement identification unitor the processing systems. Further, other image processing techniquesmay be employed to embed one or more markers in the images of anadvertisement displayed on the external display. As such, using one ormore aspects of the present technology disclosed herein, safety ofautonomous connected vehicles may be greatly improved.

FIG. 24 illustrates an example embodiment in accordance with an aspectof the present technology. In the event of providing an advertisement onan external display of a connected vehicle, there may be an issue thatthe advertisement effect may be significantly reduced when the attentionof the passers-by or pedestrians cannot be focused. If the attention ofthe passers-by or pedestrians is focused by using a beeping sound, itmay be ignored when the beeping sound is continuously reproduced, or itmay create a negative effect of the advertisement on people becausepassers-by or pedestrians may be annoyed or dislike hearing the beepingsound. As such, in an aspect of the present disclosure, the attention ofpassers-by or pedestrians is focused by allowing their gaze to stay onthe external display of the connected vehicle at their own will throughprovisioning of necessary information to the passers-by or pedestriansoutside a connected vehicle.

In an aspect of the present disclosure, a connected vehicle including amadvertisement system configured to reproduce one or more advertisementson one or more externals displays of the connected vehicle is disclosed.The one or more advertisements include non-commercial information forthe public interest. The advertisement system may be further configuredto reproduce the non-commercial information between reproductions ofcommercial advertisements on the one or more external displays, and thecommercial information may include news, weather, traffic, sportsscores, or other public information or announcements. Further, thenon-commercial information may further include location-basedinformation relating to transporting schedules, including but notlimited thereto, bus schedules (e.g., bus arrival and/or departuretimes, etc.), train schedules (e.g., train arrival and/or departuretimes, etc.), flight schedules (e.g., flight arrival and/or departuretimes, etc.), etc. when the connected vehicle is disposed at or near abus station, a train station, or an airport or an airport shuttle stopor the like.

By way of example, as shown in FIG. 24, a connected vehicle 2405 (havingcomponents like those of the connected vehicle 101) may be configured toprovide certain useful information to passers-by or pedestrians tobefriend and focus their attention on an advertisement reproduced onexternal displays and/or external speakers by the connected vehicle2405. In particular, FIG. 24 illustrates an example embodiment that theconnected vehicle 2405 situated near a subway station 2401 is configuredto display useful information on an external display 2407, such as trainschedules including expected arrival times of subways at the subwaystation 2401.

In other aspects of the present disclosure, the useful information mayinclude weather, news, sports score, public announcements or the like.In an aspect of the present disclosure, while the useful information isbeing displayed on the external display 2407 of the connected vehicle2405, an external display 2409 may be configured to reproduce one ormore commercial (or paid) advertisements. In another aspect of thepresent disclosure, when the connected vehicle 2405 may be disposed nearor at a bus stop, the connected vehicle 2405 may be configured todisplay useful information related to bus schedules including estimatedarrival time of a bus, etc. Also, when the connected vehicle 2405 isdisposed near or at an airport or an airport shuttle service stop, theconnected vehicle 2405 may be configured to display useful informationrelated to flight schedules.

Further, in the example shown in FIG. 24, the connected vehicle 2405 maybe configured to receive, based on location information of the connectedvehicle 2405, other relevant advertisements and/or useful informationfrom a server over a network like the one 107, and reproduce thereceived advertisements and/or useful information on the externaldisplays 2409 or 2407.

Furthermore, in a case of providing an advertisement on a rear externaldisplay of the connected vehicle 2405 while driving on a highway or thelike, useful information such as a road congestion situation, accidentoccurrence information or the like may be received from the server overthe network and reproduced on the rear external display of the connectedvehicle 2405 for the benefit of drivers of following the connectedvehicle 2405. Further, in this example, the useful information may bereproduced between reproductions of commercial advertisements on therear external display of the connected vehicle 2405.

Additionally, in another aspect of the present disclosure, the connectedvehicle 2405 may be configured to communicate with a subway station 2401or a bus stop or any other public facility to receive other usefulinformation for reproduction on the external display 2409 or 2405. Thecommunications may be done using one-way broadcast or two-waycommunications technologies including WiFi, near field wireless, shortrange wireless, or any other wireless technologies.

As such, using various methodologies disclosed herein, various usefulinformation (e.g., news, weather, train or bus schedules, trafficconditions, accident information, etc.) may be provided to people nearbythe connected vehicle 2405 to focus the attention of the people (e.g.,passers-by, pedestrians or drivers in vehicles) outside the connectedvehicle 2405 and befriend them, thereby increasing the effect of anadvertisement reproduced on one or more external displays of theconnected vehicle 2405.

To further increase an effect of an advertisement on drivers orpassengers in connected vehicles, FIGS. 25 and 26 provide exampleembodiments of the present technology in aspects of the presentdisclosure.

FIGS. 25A and 25B illustrate an example embodiment in accordance with anaspect of the present technology. Often, there is a need for reproducingan advertisement, not interfering with user's needs (or drivers' needs)or desires to listen to music while driving a vehicle. In an aspect ofthe present disclosure, to meet such a need of the user of a connectedvehicle like 101, a reproduction of an advertisement via in-vehicleaudio and/or internal displays inside the connected vehicle 101 may becontrolled in such a way that the reproduction of the advertisement isplaced between reproductions of different music pieces.

In an aspect of the present disclosure, a connected vehicle including anin-vehicle audio system and an advertisement system is disclosed. Thein-vehicle audio system is configured to stream (or play or reproduce)music inside the connected vehicle, and the advertisement system iscoupled to the in-vehicle audio system and configured to detect thestreaming of music and to reproduce one or more advertisements foroccupants inside the connected vehicle. The occupants may include adriver and/or passenger(s) in the connected vehicle. Further, theadvertisement system is further configured to reproduce the one or moreadvertisements between streaming of different music pieces.

By way of example, as shown in FIG. 25A, in an aspect, after the end ofstreaming of the music 2501 that a driver of a connected vehicle 101 islistening to, an advertisement 2503 may be reproduced via an in-vehicleaudio systems (e.g., speakers) and/or internal displays in the connectedvehicle 101 and the streaming of a subsequent music piece 2505 may bedelayed until the end of the reproduction of the advertisement 2503.That is, timings of streaming music may be controlled so that theadvertisement 2503 can be inserted between two different music pieces2501 and 2505.

Further, in another aspect of the present disclosure, as shown in FIG.25B, using an application in an in-vehicle navigation system 2507 in theconnected vehicle 101, the streaming of music and reproduction of theadvertisement 2509 (or 2503) may also be simultaneously provided (orpresented) to the driver or occupant(s) in the connected vehicle 101 ina non-interfering manner. That is, in cooperation with the in-vehiclenavigation system 2507, the advertisement(s) 2503 or 2509 may bereproduced in such a manner that the reproduction of theadvertisement(s) 2509 or 2509 does not interfere with audio guidance ofthe in-vehicle navigation system 2507 as shown in FIG. 25B. Further, inan aspect of the present disclosure, the advertisement 2503 or 2509 maybe provided by the server 107 over a wireless network or retrieved fromone or more storage devices of the connected vehicle 101. In addition,the advertisement 2503 or 2509 may include an advertisement that iscreated based in part on the music 2501 or 2505 in accordance with anaspect of an example embodiment as shown in FIG. 26.

FIG. 26 illustrates an example embodiment in accordance with an aspectof the present technology. Most drivers listen to music while driving,and the driver's perception of music and their concentration is veryhigh. To effectively provide an advertisement based on such driver'sconcentration, a musical tone (or musical tone rate) or the like of themusic to which the driver is listening in a connected vehicle may beanalyzed and an advertisement corresponding to a specific musical tonemay be created and reproduced by an advertisement system of theconnected vehicle.

By way of example, and in an aspect of the present disclosure, as shownin FIG. 26, it is possible to recognize a specific segment or portion(e.g., a melody) of the music that the user is listening to, read amusical tone (or musical tone rate) of the specific segment or themelody of the music and create (or generate) an advertisement thatcorresponds to the musical tone or musical tone rate of the specificsegment or the melody of the music that is being reproduced in theconnected vehicle.

That is, in an aspect of the present disclosure, the advertisementsystem of the connected vehicle may be configured to: detect a piece ofmusic that is being played in the connected vehicle (e.g., either bystreaming of music from an in-vehicle radio or a mobile device viaBluetooth), analyze the detected piece of music, create one or moreadvertisements based in part on one or more segments of the detectedpiece of music, and reproduce the one or more advertisements at an endof the streaming of the music in the connected vehicle. In the example,the one or more advertisements may be created based in part on a melodyof the music and/or profile information (e.g., age, sex, preferences,favorite tunes, personality, moods, or the like) of the one or moreoccupants (including the driver) in the connected vehicle. In an aspect,a melody of the music that is favored by the occupants may be selectedand an audio advertisement corresponding to the favorite melody of themusic may be created in consideration of certain information (e.g., age,sex, preferences, favorite tunes, personality, moods, or the like) ofthe one or more occupants in the connected vehicle.

Further, in an aspect of the present disclosure, when creating anadvertisement based on the detected music, the detected music may beanalyzed in terms of certain characteristics including but not limitedthereto, a musical tone, a musical tone rate, pitch, notes, words,characters, or the like. Based on such analysis of the music that isdetected, one or more segments of the music may be selected for creatingan advertisement that corresponds to the selected one or more segments.In one implementation, in addition to the melody of the music, a numberof characters or words in a commercial music or advertisement for one ormore products of an advertiser may be considered. That is, theadvertisement may be created by combining a musical tone of a selectedsegment of the music and one or more advertisement words or characters(e.g., “Coca Cola”).

In another aspect of the present disclosure, although the abovedescription is presented herein with respect to the advertisementsystem, rather than the advertisement system, the server 107 may receivefrom the advertisement system certain information on music (e.g.,artist, a title, genre, a total duration, a current reproductioncounter, a remaining time counter, etc.) that is being played in theconnected vehicle and create one or more appropriate advertisements. Theserver may then send the created advertisement to the connected vehiclefor reproduction for the occupants in the connected vehicle.

Further, as for the reproduction of the created advertisement, theadvertisement may be reproduced within a predetermined period after thereproduction of a favored melody of the music is finished. Also, thecreated advertisement may be reproduced between different music pieces.

In another aspect of the present disclosure, the reproduction of theadvertisement may be controlled based in part on whether the music isplayed via a radio or a mobile device via Bluetooth.

In the example, when it is determined that the music is played from theradio (e.g., an in-vehicle radio or a satellite radio system), theadvertisement system may be configured to detect and determine aninterval of time (e.g., an interval of silence or no reproduction ofsound) between different music pieces or programs, and reproduce the oneor more advertisements (e.g., audio advertisements) during thedetermined internal of time by controlling timings of reproduction ofthe one or more advertisements as well as the different music pieces. Inanother aspect of the present disclosure, when it is determined that themusic is played via the Bluetooth, the music may be streamed from themobile device (e.g., a smart phone, a MP3 player, or the like) tointernal speakers via an in-vehicle audio system in the connectedvehicle. In such a case, the advertisement system may be configured tocommunicate with the in-vehicle audio system and control timings ofstreaming of the music such that the one or more advertisements that arecreated based on the melody of the music are reproduced or playedbetween playing of different music pieces. Alternatively, in anotheraspect of the present disclosure, the advertisement system may beconsidered to send to the server 107 certain information on the music(e.g., artist, a title, genre, a total duration, a current reproductioncounter, a remaining time counter, etc.) that is being played, receivefrom the server 107 the one or more advertisements that are createdbased in part on one or more segments of the music, and reproduce theone or more advertisements at an end of the reproduction of music orbetween different pieces of music.

By way of example, as noted above, and as shown in FIG. 26, in oneimplementation, a specific segment or melody 2603 of the music 1601 maybe selected by either the advertisement system of the connected vehicleor the server 107 over the network and, and then based on the selectedspecific segment or melody 2603 of the music 1601, a correspondingadvertisement 2605 (e.g., an audio content) that is appropriate for thereproduction may be created or generated. In the example, thecorresponding advertisement 2605 may include a musical tone andadvertisement characters or words 2607. That is, the advertisement 2605may be created by combining the musical tone of the segment 2603 and theadvertisement characters or words 2607 (e.g., “

”). In selecting the segment of music, various factors may be consideredincluding but not limited thereto, a number of characters or words to beused in the advertisement 2605, a mood, or favorite lyrics, etc.

Furthermore, the advertisement system of the connected vehicle may befurther configured to control in such a way that the createdadvertisement 2605 is provided after the song 1601 ends or immediatelyafter a specific segment or melody 2603 is reproduced. Alternatively, asnoted above, the server over the network may be configured to create oneor more advertisement 2605 and control the reproduction of the createdadvertisement 2605. Further, as noted above, the sever over the networkmay be configured to use different control methods depending on whetherthe music is played through a radio station or via Bluetooth.

As such, in the present disclosure, a method and system for reproducingone or more advertisements while reproducing music inside a connectedvehicle is disclosed. In the method, playing (or streaming) of music isdetected in the connected vehicle, an advertisement is created based onthe detected music, and the created advertisement is reproduced via oneor more internal speakers of the connected vehicle. Further, in creatingthe advertisement based on the detected music, a musical tone of themusic may be analyzed segment by segment, and one segment that isappropriate for creating the advertisement may be selected. Theadvertisement may be created by combining the musical tone of theselected segment of the music and one or more advertisement words for anadvertiser. Further, when detecting the playing of music inside theconnected vehicle may include determining whether the music isreproduced via streaming from an in-vehicle radio or a mobile device viaBluetooth. When it is determined that the music is reproduced viastreaming from the in-vehicle radio, one or more intervals of time(e.g., an interval of silence or no reproduction of sound) betweendifferent music pieces or programs are determined for the reproductionof the advertisement. Also, when it is determined that music isreproduced via streaming from the mobile device, communications with thein-vehicle audio system are made and timing of streaming of the music iscontrolled such that the advertisement is reproduced after the end ofreproduction of the music or between the reproductions of differentmusic pieces. Further, when it is determined that the music isreproduced via streaming from the mobile device, a buffering process maystart by the in-vehicle audio system such that timings of streaming ofdifferent music pieces may be controlled so as to reproduce theadvertisement.

As a result, by dynamically reproducing an advertisement based ondetection of streaming of music inside a connected vehicle, the effectof an advertisement on the driver (or the occupant) in the connectedvehicle may be dramatically increased.

FIGS. 27A and 27B illustrate example embodiments in accordance withaspects of the present technology. In another aspect of the presenttechnology, an advertisement system may be used for a virtual enginesound system in a connected vehicle. At present with electric vehicles,there may be a problem that the safety of pedestrians near the electricvehicles may be threatened because the electric vehicles do not produceengine noise while the electric vehicles are in operation. To solve thisproblem, in many different countries it has become mandatory for amanufacturer to install a virtual engine sound system in an electricvehicle. The virtual engine sound system is a system for producing awarning noise, providing synthetic audio feedback mimicking the sound ofan idling internal combustion engine. The virtual engine sound system isdesigned to alert pedestrians to the presence of electric vehiclestravelling at low speeds or when stopped at a location.

In an aspect of the present disclosure, an advertisement reproductionsystem (e.g., the advertisement system 200 or part thereof, as shown inFIG. 2C) may be used to replace a virtual engine sound system in anelectric vehicle.

By way of example, a connected vehicle comprising an electric vehicleincluding an advertisement system is disclosed. The advertisement systemis configured to reproduce one or more audio advertisements in acontinuous manner via external speakers of the connected vehicle inplace of imaginary engine sounds, for safety of people outside theconnected vehicle. In an aspect of the present disclosure, theadvertisement system may be further configured to detect presence ofpeople near the connected vehicle via one or more sensors. Further, theconnected vehicle may be configured to reproduce a same advertisementsubstantially simultaneously with other connected vehicles disposed nearthe connected vehicle or to reproduce an advertisement in coordinationwith other connected vehicles.

Further, the connected vehicle may be further configured to include anauxiliary batter for external speakers, and the connected vehicle isfurther configured to reproduce one or more advertisements when thepresence of people near the connected vehicle is detected via one ormore proximity sensors of the connected vehicle. Furthermore, theexternal speakers of the connected vehicle may include one or morevibration speakers. As noted above, a vibration speaker is a speakerconfigured to turn a solid surface into a speaker.

In the present disclosure, the term “proximity sensors” as used hereinmean one or more electric sensors able to detect the presence of nearbyobjects without any physical contact, by emitting an electromagneticfield or a beam of electromagnetic radiation, e.g., infrared or thelike. The proximity sensors may include inductor sensors, capacitivesensors, photoelectric sensors, magnetic sensors, or the like.

In one implementation, as shown in FIG. 27A, when the connected vehicle2701 (including components like those of the connected vehicle 101) isstopped and/or charging from a charging station 2703, the connectedvehicle 2701 (e.g., an electric vehicle) may be configured tocontinuously output or reproduce one or more advertisements 2705 viaexternal speakers outside the connected vehicle 2701. In an aspect ofthe present disclosure, the connected vehicle 2705 may be furtherconfigured to continuously reproduce brand names, commercial music (CM)songs, slogans or the like, to alert pedestrians near the connectedvehicle 2701. Further, as shown FIG. 27B, the connected vehicle 2701 maybe configured to check whether there is a pedestrian or a moving objectin a nearby area (e.g., a proximity area 2707) of the connected vehicle2701 and reproduce one or more advertisements 2701 while moving a slowspeed or parked in a space. That is, using its external sensors (e.g.,proximity sensors or the like) outside the connected vehicle 2701, theconnected vehicles 2701 may be configured to detect presence of apedestrian or any moving object, and reproduce the one or moreadvertisements 2705 accordingly.

In another aspect of the present disclosure, when a plurality ofconnected vehicles is clustered together and configured to outputdifferent advertisements, there may be a problem that the advertisementsmay be unclear to the pedestrian due to inferences of the multipleadvertisements. In such a case, the plurality of connected vehicles maybe configured to communicate with each other and control a reproductionorder of the multiple advertisements among the plurality of connectedvehicles. Alternatively, the plurality of connected vehicles may furtherbe configured to reproduce the same advertisement at the same time in asynchronized manner such that the pedestrian may recognize andunderstand an amplified or enhanced version of the advertisement that isbeing reproduced by the connected vehicles.

As such, by using an advertisement reproduction system of the connectedvehicle 2701 a virtual engine sound system may be replaced in theconnected vehicle 2701, and the safety of the pedestrian may be providedin a cost-effective way.

Further, in another aspect of the present disclosure, the connectedvehicle 2701 may be configured to include one or more vibrationsspeakers (or vibration transducers) as part of an advertisement system(e.g., the advertisement system 200 of the connected vehicle 101). Thevibration speakers turn surfaces into speakers. The one or morevibrations speakers may be mounted on a front, a left side, a rightside, or under a hood of the connected vehicle 2701 and use one or moresurfaces of a body of the connected vehicle 2701 to produce a rich andfull sound. As such, in an aspect of the present disclosure, theconnected vehicle 2701 may include one or more vibration speakers aspart of an advertisement reproduction system (or the advertisementsystem) of the connected vehicle 2701 to reproduce one or more audioadvertisements outside the connected vehicle 2701. Further, in anotheraspect of the present disclosure, external speakers in the form ofvibration speakers (e.g., Feonic surface speakers or transducers or thelike) may be used as the main sound source, and furthermore, thevibration speakers may be positioned at various positions including onthe front, rear, or sides of the connected vehicle, in accordance withthe disclosure in KR10-2013-002881, the contents of which isincorporated herein in its entirety.

FIG. 28 illustrates an example embodiment in accordance with an aspectof the present technology. In an aspect of the present disclosure, toenhance public goods and interests as well as ensuring safe driving of aconnected vehicle, one or more rewards may be paid to a driver of theconnected vehicle (e.g., a driver of a rental vehicle) for safe drivingand observing traffic laws and regulations. Alternatively, for observingtraffic laws and/or regulations 2803 on the road, other benefitsincluding a discount in auto insurance premium may be paid to an ownerof the connected vehicle 2801 (having components like those of theconnected vehicle 101). By way of example, the server 107 is configuredto continuously monitor driving conditions of the connected vehicle 2801by a driver. When it is determined that the connected vehicle 2801 (orthe driver of the connected vehicle 2801) observed all traffic lawsand/or regulations for safe driving on the road, the server 107 isconfigured to pay or give one or more rewards to the connected vehicle2801 and/or the driver of the connected vehicle 2801.

Further, the server 107 is configured to monitor each connected vehiclesuch as 2801 and determine whether the driver of the connected vehicle2801 has observed traffic laws and/or regulations on the road. Also,logs for the connected vehicle including a number of observances oftraffic laws and regulations including speed limits, traffic signs, etc.may be created and kept. When the number of observances is determined tobe greater than a predetermined value, then the server 107 may beconfigured to pay out one or more rewards to the driver of the connectedvehicle 2801 or the owner of the connected vehicle 2801 in variousforms, including but not limited to, a discount in insurance premium, acredit for future use, etc.

Further, in another aspect of the present disclosure, the server 107 maybe configured to provide hints or guidance as to traffic enforcement orprovide alert messages to the driver of the connected vehicle 2801 whenthe connected vehicle 107 is about to drive through one or more trafficenforcement areas. In another aspect of the present disclosure, when theconnected vehicle 2801 is a rental vehicle, the reward may be providedto the driver of the connected vehicle 2801 in the form of an additionaluse time, a discount in rental fee, a future credit for use, a couponfor other services, or the like such that the safe driving of theconnected vehicle may be encouraged.

Furthermore, in another aspect of the present disclosure, the pluralityof connected vehicles may be configured to provide guidance informationvia external displays and/or external speakers of the connected vehicleswhile driving on the road, when an emergency vehicle approaches theplurality of connected vehicles on the road. For example, in oneimplementation, the server 107 may control driving paths of theconnected vehicles on the road when an emergency vehicle coming towardsthe plurality of connected vehicles on the road. The server 107 may alsobe configured to detect the presence of the emergency vehicle on theroad in a vicinity of the connected vehicles and control the drivingroutes of the connected vehicles on the road such that one of aplurality of lanes may be open and emptied for a quick pass through ofthe emergency vehicle.

In the example, the server 107 may be further configured to predictentry of the emergency vehicle into the driving route of the connectedvehicles. Also, through the reproduction of route guidance via externaldisplays and/or speakers of the connected vehicles, it will be possibleto allow other vehicles to yield the right of way for the emergencyvehicles. In an aspect of the present disclosure, the server 107 mayfurther be configured to provide a deduction in penalties, taxes, etc.for the connected vehicles that operated in accordance with the drivingroute guidance provided by the server. Alternatively, fines may beimposed on the connected vehicles that fail to operate in accordancewith the driving route guidance when the emergency vehicles are on theroad. As such, by encouraging the yield of the right of way to theemergency vehicles and/or other vehicles, it will be possible tocontribute to the public goods and interest. Further, in another aspectof the present disclosure, when there is a need for putting out a publicnotice, such as an emergency warning or alert, e.g., an earthquakewarning, a war warning, a traffic warning, a disaster warning, or otheremergency warnings or the like, the server 107 may be configured toreceive such emergency warning or information from a public orgovernment server, and send the information to the plurality ofconnected vehicles such that the information may be reproduced on theexternal displays and/or speakers of the connected vehicles, therebycontributing to the public goods and interest.

As such, by using connected vehicles as a platform, public goods andinterests may be advanced and safe driving of the connected vehicles mayalso be encouraged through various forms of incentives including one ormore rewards for compliance with traffic laws and regulations or thelike.

Even though particular combinations of features are disclosed in thespecification and/or recited in the claims, these combinations are notintended to limit the disclosure of the present technology. Further, themethods or methodologies for the present technology disclosed herein,including one or more systems, apparatuses, and flowcharts, inaccordance with various aspects of the present disclosure, may beimplemented in software, hardware, any combinations of software andhardware, a computer program or firmware incorporated in a computerreadable medium for execution by a controller, a processor, a computer,or a processing system that includes one or more processors. Examples ofprocessors include microcontrollers, microprocessors, digital signalprocessors (DSPs), discrete hardware circuits, gated logic, statemachines, programmable logic devices (PLDs), FPGAs, and other suitablehardware configured to perform various functions described herein.

While, for simplicity, the methodologies are described herein as aseries of steps or acts, it is to be understood that the claimed subjectmatter is not limited by the order of steps or acts, as some steps oracts may occur in different orders and/or concurrently with other actsfrom that shown and described herein. Further, not all illustrated stepsor acts, e.g., various flowcharts, may be required to implement variousmethodologies according to the present technology disclosed herein.Furthermore, the methodologies disclosed herein and throughout thisspecification are capable of being stored on an article of manufactureto facilitate transporting and transferring such methodologies to one ormore processing systems.

The term “software” as used herein is to be construed broadly to meanany instructions, instruction sets, programs, subprograms, code, programcode, software modules, applications, software packages, routines,objects, executables, threads of execution, procedures, functions, etc.including firmware, microcode, middleware, software, hardwaredescription language, or the like. The software may also refer togeneral software, firmware, middleware, microcode, hardware descriptionlanguage, or etc. As noted above, the software may be stored on acomputer-readable medium.

Examples of a computer-readable medium may include a non-transitorycomputer-readable medium, such as, by way of example, an optical disk, amagnetic storage device, a digital versatile disk, a flash memory,random access memory (RAM), read only memory (ROM), a register,programmable ROM (PROM), erasable PROM (EPROM), electrically erasablePROM (EEPROM), a removable disk, a flash memory device, and any othersuitable medium for storing software that may be accessed and read by aprocessor or a processing system. It is also appreciated that oneskilled in the art will recognize how best to implement the describedfunctionality relating to adding new system functionalities to anexisting network element, depending upon a application within designconstraints.

The term “unit” or “component” as used herein means software, hardware,or any combinations thereof. A unit may be implemented as a softwarecomponent, a hardware component, or any combinations thereof, includinga processor, a central processing unit (CPU), a FPGA, logic, logicarrays, ASIC, DSP, microcontroller, microprocessor, etc. or anycombinations thereof. The unit thus may include software components,task components, processes, procedures, functions, program code,firmware, micro-codes, circuits, data structures, tables, arrays, andvariables.

The term “article of manufacture” is intended to encompass a computerprogram accessible from any computer-readable device, carrier, ormedium. A singular form may include a plural form if there is no clearlyopposite meaning in the context. Also, as used herein, the article “a”is intended to include one or more items. Further, no element, act,step, or instruction used in the present disclosure should be construedas critical or essential to the present disclosure unless explicitlydescribed as such in the present disclosure.

As used herein, except explicitly noted otherwise, the term “comprise”and variations of the term, such as “comprising,” “comprises,” and“comprised” are not intended to exclude other additives, components,integers or steps. The terms “first,” “second,” and so forth used hereinmay be used to describe various components, but the components are notlimited by the above terms. The above terms are used only todiscriminate one component from other components, without departing fromthe scope of the present disclosure.

Also, the term “and/or” as used herein includes a combination of aplurality of associated items or any item of the plurality of associateditems. Further, it is noted that when it is described that an element is“coupled” or “connected” to another element, the element may be directlycoupled or directly connected to the other element, or the element maybe coupled or connected to the other element through a third element.Also, the term “in” may include “in” and “on”.

Further, the term “include” or “have” as used herein indicates that afeature, an operation, a component, a step, a number, a part or anycombination thereof described herein is present. Further, the term“include” or “have” does not exclude a possibility of presence oraddition of one or more other features, operations, components, steps,numbers, parts or combinations.

Although the present technology has been illustrated with specificexamples described herein for purposes of describing exampleembodiments, it is appreciated by one skilled in the relevant art that awide variety of alternate and/or equivalent implementations may besubstituted for the specific examples shown and described withoutdeparting from the scope of the present disclosure. As such, the presentdisclosure is intended to cover any adaptations or variations of theexamples and/or embodiments shown and described herein, withoutdeparting from the spirit and the technical scope of the presentdisclosure.

What is claimed is:
 1. A connected vehicle comprising an electricvehicle including: an advertisement system, wherein the advertisementsystem of the electric vehicle is configured to: detect presence ofpeople near the connected vehicle via one or more proximity sensors; andreproduce, in response to the detection of presence of people, one ormore advertisements via external displays and/or external speakers ofthe connected vehicle.
 2. The connected vehicle of claim 1, wherein theadvertisement system of the electric vehicle is further configured to:reproduce one or more audio advertisements via the external speakers ofthe connected vehicle in such a way that the one or more audioadvertisements reproduced provide to the people an alert message of thepresence of the connected vehicle, for safety of the people outside theconnected vehicle.
 3. The connected vehicle of claim 1, wherein theelectric vehicle is further configured to include an auxiliary batteryfor operation of the advertisement system such that the one or moreadvertisements are reproduced by the advertisement system when theelectric vehicle is off but the presence of people near the electricvehicle is detected.
 4. The connected vehicle of claim 3, wherein theadvertisement system of the electric vehicle is further configured toautomatically reproduce the one or more advertisements using theauxiliary battery, when the presence of people near the electric vehicleis detected.
 5. The connected vehicle of claim 1, wherein the externalspeakers of the connected vehicle comprise one or more vibrationspeakers.
 6. The connected vehicle of claim 1, wherein the electricvehicle is further configured to include: an autonomous driving unit andan advertisement identification unit coupled to the autonomousidentification unit, wherein the advertisement identification unit isconfigured to recognize and identify one or more visual contents of anadvertisement reproduced on an external display of another vehicle or abillboard display nearby.
 7. The connected vehicle of claim 1, whereinthe advertisement identification unit is further configured to recognizethe one or more visual contents of the advertisement reproduced on theexternal displays, based in part on a number of pixels in the externaldisplay of another vehicle or the billboard display nearby.
 8. Theconnected vehicle of claim 1, wherein the advertisement identificationunit is further configured to recognize the one or more visual contentsof the advertisement based in part on a marker inserted in the one ormore visual contents of the advertisement, to inform the advertisementidentification unit that the one or more visual contents are designedfor reproduction on the external display.
 9. The connected vehicle ofclaim 8, wherein the marker comprises an image frame of advertisement, aquick response (QR) code, an identification symbol or number, or thelike.
 10. An autonomous vehicle, comprising: an autonomous driving unit;an advertisement system coupled to the autonomous driving unit andconfigured to reproduce one or more advertisements on the autonomousvehicle; and an advertisement identification unit coupled to theadvertisement system, wherein the advertisement identification unit isconfigured to recognize and identify one or more visual contents of anadvertisement reproduced on an external display of another vehicle or abillboard display nearby.
 11. The autonomous vehicle of claim 10,wherein the advertisement identification unit is further configured torecognize and identify the one or more visual contents of theadvertisement reproduced on the external display, based in part on anumber of pixels in the external display.
 12. The autonomous vehicle ofclaim 10, wherein the advertisement identification unit is furtherconfigured to recognize the one or more visual contents of theadvertisement based in part on a marker inserted in the one or morevisual contents of the advertisement, to inform the advertisementidentification unit that the one or more visual contents areadvertisements designed for reproduction on the external display. 13.The autonomous vehicle of claim 12, wherein the marker comprises animage frame of advertisement, a quick response (QR) code, anidentification symbol or number, or the like.
 14. A method forreproducing one or more advertisements using a connected vehicle, themethod comprising: detecting presence of people near the connectedvehicle via one or more proximity sensors disposed in the connectedvehicle; and reproducing, in response to the detection of the presenceof people, an advertisement via an external display and/or an externalspeaker of the connected vehicle.
 15. The method of claim 14, whereinthe connected vehicle comprises an electric vehicle.
 16. The method ofclaim 14, wherein reproducing, in response to the detection, anadvertisement via an external display and/or an external speaker of theconnected vehicle comprises: reproducing one or more audioadvertisements via the external speaker of the connected vehicle in sucha way that the one or more audio advertisements provide the people withan alert message of the presence of the connected vehicle, for safety ofthe people outside the connected vehicle.
 17. The method of claim 14,further comprising providing an auxiliary battery for operation of anadvertisement system of the connected vehicle such that theadvertisement is reproduced by the advertisement system when a mainpower of the connected vehicle is off and the one or more proximitysensors detect the presence of people near the connected vehicle. 18.The method of claim 17, further comprising automatically reproducing theadvertisement using the auxiliary battery in a continuous manner for aperiod of time when the main power of the connected vehicle is off andthe one or more proximity sensors detect the presence of people near theconnected vehicle.
 19. The method of claim 17, wherein the advertisementis reproduced through one or more vibration speakers disposed in theconnected vehicle.
 20. The method of claim 14, further comprisingrecognizing one or more visual contents of an advertisement reproducedon an external display of another connected vehicle or a billboarddisplay nearby, based in part on: a number of pixels in the externaldisplay of another connected vehicle or a marker disposed in the one ormore visual contents of the advertisement reproduced on the externaldisplay of another connected vehicle or the billboard display.